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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


^i,u^Uf9/i-  /^^^  (py^^i^-^ 


PRUSSIA 


Franco-Prussian  War. 


CONTAINING 

A  BRIEF  NARRATIVE  OF  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  KINGDOM, 

ITS   PAST  HISTORY,  AND  A  DETAILED  ACCOUNT 

OF  THE  CAUSES  AND  RESULTS  OF  THE 

LATE  WAR  WITH  AUSTRIA; 


AN  ACCOUNT  Of  THE  ORIGIN  OP  THE  PRESENT  WAR  WITH 

PRANCE,  AND  OP  THE  EXTPulORDINARY  CAMPAIGN 

INTO  THE  HEART  OP  THE  EMPIRE. 

INCLUDING 

JStograpfjtcal  Sftctc|}cs  of  Iting  JiEilliam  anti  (JTount  bon  Utsmarck. 


By  JOHN  S.  C.  ABBOTT, 

AUTHOR  OF   "  LIFE  OF  NAPOLEON  I.,"   "  LIFE  OF  NAPOLEON  III.,"   "  LIFE  OF    FREDERICK 
THE  GREAT,"    "  PRESIDENTS   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES,"    ETC. 


BOSTON  : 
PUBLISHED  BY  B.  B.  RUSSELL,  55  CORNHILL. 

i'lIILADELPniA:  QUAKEI?.-C1TY  PUI5LISIIING-U0USE. 

CIUCAOO  :  JAMES  P.  SXELL. 

SAN  FRANCISCO  :    A.    L.    BANCKOFT    &   CO. 

POUT  HOPE,  ONT. :  P.  R.  RANDALL  &  CO. 

1871. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1S70, 

By  B.  B.  RUSSELL, 

/n  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


BOSTON  : 
ELECTROTYPED    AND    PRINTKD    BY    RAND,    AVERV,    &    FRVE. 


TO 

THE    GERMANS  WHO    FROM    "VATERLAND," 

AND 

THE  FRENCH  WHO  FROM   "LA  BELLE  FRANCE," 

HAVE   MET 

BENEATH  THE  STARS  AND   STRIPES  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 

AS   FELLOW-CITIZENS,   COMRADES,    AND   BROTHERS, 

CTIjis  Jjooh  is  DrttcatcU, 

WITH    THE    HOPE   THAT  GERMANY   AND    FRANXE   MAY   SOON   CLASP   HANDS 
FRATERNALLY   ACROSS   THE   RHINE. 

JOHN   S.   C.   ABBOTT. 


/l3 


PEEFAOE. 


IT  is  less  tlian  two  hundred  years  since  the  petty  Marqiiisatc  of  Brandrn- 
hiirg  and  the  little  Duchy  of  Prussia  were  united  in  a  kingdom.  Prussia, 
as  thus  constituted,  was  so  insignificant  a  realm  in  territory  and  population 
as  quite  to  excite  the  contempt  of  the  proud  monarchs  of  Europe.  England, 
France,  Austria,  and  Russia  were  by  no  means  disposed  to  admit  the  newly- 
created  king  of  so  paltry  a  domain  on  social  equality  with  them. 

Prussia  is  now  recognized  not  only  as  one  of  the  great  powers,  but  as, 
probably,  the  first  military  power  in  Europe.  The  steps  by  which  this 
greatness  has  been  attained  constitute  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters 
in  the  history  of  modern  times.  Prussia  is  the  representative,  not  of  lib- 
eralism, but  of  absolutism.  It  has  been  under  the  banner  of  despotic  sway 
that  most  of  its  victories  have  been  achieved. 

Prussia  now  presents  to  the  world  the  somewhat  appalling  spectacle  of 
a  nation  of  forty  millions,  in  which  every  able-bodied  man  is  a  trained 
soldier.  It  has  been  able,  at  a  moment's  warning,  to  send  into  the  field 
armies  so  overwhelming  in  numbers,  and  so  admirably  organized  and  disci- 
plined, as  to  crush  the  military  power  of  France,  to  batter  down  her  strong- 
est fortresses,  and  even  to  penetrate  the  heart  of  the  empire,  and  invest  her 
proud  metropolis  with  beleaguering  hosts.  The  object  of  this  volume  is  to 
give  a  narrative  of  the  origin,  growth,  and  present  condition,  of  this  gigantic 
power.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  anywhere  a  theme  more  full  of  in- 
structive and  exciting  incidents. 

The  mad  jjranks  of  the  halfcrazcd  Frederick  William  ;  the  wild  and 
.wonderful  career  of  I'^rederick  the  Great;  the  awful  reverses  which  over- 
whchncd  Prussia  in  the  wars  of  the  French  Revolution  ;  the  astounding 
victories  and  conquests  achieved  in  the  late  war  with  Austria,  which  culmi- 
nated in  the  great  i)attle  of  Sadowa,  where  Austria,  a  helpless  victim,  lay 
prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the  conqueror ;  and  the  recent  campaign  in  France, 
which  has  excited  the  wonder  of  the  world,  as  the  French    armies  have 


lVi31.75(>8 


6  PEEFACE. 

melted  away  before  the  Prussian  legions,  as  fortress  after  fortress  has 
fallen  before  their  batteries,  and  as  Paris  itself  has  surrendered  to  hosts 
such  as  Attila  could  scarcely  have  brought  into  the  field,  —  these  are  events 
which  are  to  be  chronicled  among  the  most  momentous  which  have  trans- 
pired upon  our  globe. 

The  narrative  here  given  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War  is  an  impartial 
recital  of  facts  known  by  all  intelligent  men.  If  this  record  be  not  sub- 
stantially true,  then  is  it  impossible  to  obtain  any  truth  of  history.  Never 
did  events  take  place  under  a  broader  blaze  of  day.  Wherever  our  sympa- 
thies may  rest,  the  facts  here  given  are  indisputable;  and  it  is  a  weakness 
for  one  to  shrink  from  impartial  truth  because  it  is  not,  in  all  respects, 
flattering  to  national  pride. 

It  cannot  be  gratifying  to  any  Frenchman  to  read  this  record  of  the 
utter  humiliation  and  the  ruin  of  his  country,  and  of  that  lamentable  want 
of  stability  on  the  part  of  his  countrymen  which  has  caused  this  humilia- 
tion and  ruin. 

And,  in  the  creation  of  the  new  Germanic  Empire,  there  have  been  some 
distinctly-avowed  motives  which  have  inspired  the  actors,  and  some  meas- 
ures which  have  been  adopted  before  the  eyes  of  all  the  world,  which  many 
Germans  will  not  reflect  upon  with  pleasure. 

But  both  French  and  Germans  will  find  in  these  pages  as  honest  and 
impartial  a  record  of  facts  as  it  is  possible  to  give.  The  intelligent  Ameri- 
can community,  who  month  after  month  have  watched  with  the  utmost 
interest  the  development  of  these  transactions,  will  be  able  to  testify  from 
its  own  personal  observation  to  the  accuracy  of  this  account  of  the 
Franco-Prussian  War.  But  we  must  remember  that  it  is  a  pardonable 
weakness  for  men,  when  in  a  foreign  country,  to  be  even  unduly  zealous  in 
reference  to  the  good  name  of  their  native  land. 

The  accuracy  of  the  portraits,  we  think,  may  be  relied  upon.  They 
have  been  obtained  from  the  most  authentic  sources.  The  beautiful  group 
of  the  Imperial  Family  of  France  has  been  taken,  by  express  permission, 
from  the  private  collection  of  the  Emperor,  and  has  been  engraved  by  the 
most  skilful  of  French  artists.     The  writer  can  testify  to  the  remarkable 

fidelity  of  the  likenesses. 

JOHN  S.  C.  ABBOTT. 
New  Haven,  Conn. 


OONTEIS'TS. 


CHAP.  PAGE. 

I.  Origin  of  the  Monarchy 9 

II.  Fritz,  and  the  Commencement  of  iii.s  Ueicjn 2.5 

III.  TriF,  Seven-Years'  War 40 

rv.  The  Partition  of  Poland,  and  the  Invasion  of  France  .        .  53 

V.  Prls.sia  and  the  French  Revolution 68 

VI.  Prussia  Overwhelmed 83 

Vll.  Frederick  William  III.  and  the  New  Coalition  ....  07 

VIII.  Struggles  for  Liberty 113 

TX.  King  William  1 120 

X.  The  Chief  Supporters  of  the  Crown 137 

XI.  SCIILESWIG  AND  IIOLSTEIN 152 

XII.  Tin;  LinuRATioN  of  Italy 168 

XIII.  The  GER.MAN  War 174 

Xrv.  Fr.\nce  demands  her  Ancient  Boundary 1S3 

XV.  Tni:  Policy  of  Count  Bismarck T"2 

XVI.  The  Declaration  of  War 200 

XVII.  The  Eastern  Question 2;i.S 

XVIir.  France  Invaded 2I7 

XIX.  Pru.^sian  Victories  and  French  Defeats 223 

XX.  The  Capture  of  Sedan 2.34 

X.\I.  The  Overthrow  of  the  E.mpire 217 

XXII.  The  Prisoner  and  the  E.xile 2r.o 

X.\III.  War  and  its  Woes 271 

7 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAP.  P-^OE. 

XXIV.  The  Germanic  Empiiie 287 

XXV.  The  Siege  of  Paris 312 

XXVT.  The  Political  Embarrassments 327 

XXVU.  Peace 341 


ILLUSTPvATIOXS. 

Frederick  the  Great Frontispiece. 

Prussian  Group.  —  Containing  Portraits  of  King  William,  the  Crown  Prince, 

Prince  Frederick  Charles,  Count  Bismarck,  and  Gen.  Von  Moltke  .  .  137 
Imperial  Group.—  Viz.,  Napoleon  III.,  the  Empress  Eugenie,  and  the  Prince 

Imperial 247 

MAPS. 

Prussi.i,  1740 31 

Prussia,  1786 61 

Prussia,  1815 107 

Prussia,  1866 181 

March  of  the  Germans  to  Paris 221 

The  German  Empire 247 


niSTORY    OF    PRUSSIA. 


CHAPTER    I. 


its  place. 


ORIGIN    OF   THE    MONARCHY. 

BOUT  the  year  of  our  Lord  997,  Adelbert, 
Bishop  of  Prague,  Avith  two  companions,  set 
out  on  a  missionary  tour  to  the  shores  of 
the  Baltic.  The  savage  inhabitants  killed 
him.  Still  Christianity  gradually  gained 
ground.  As  the  ages  rolled  on,  idolatry 
disappeared,  and  nominal  Christianity  took 
The  people  were  poor,  ignorant,  widely  dis- 
persed, and  but  partially  civilized.  During  weary  cen- 
turies, as  generations  came  and  went,  nothing  in  that 
reg'ion  occurred  of  interest  to  the  world  at  large. 

When,  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Protestantism  was 
rejected  by  Southern  Europe,  it  was  accepted  by  the 
inhabitants  of  this  wild  region.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  there  was  found  upon  the 
soulliern  shores  of  the  Baltic  a  small  territory,  about  as 
large  as  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  called  tlu;  Mar' 
quisate  of  Brandenburg.     The  marquis  belonged  to  a 


10  HISTORY   OF  PEUSSIA. 

very  renowned  family,  known  as  th^  House  of  Hohen- 
zoUern.  At  the  distance  of  some  miles  east  of  this 
marquisate,  there  was  a  small  duchy  called  Prussia. 
The  Marquis  of  Brandenburg,  who  had  come  into 
possession  of  the  duchy,  being  a  very  ambitious  man, 
by  skilful  diplomacy  succeeded  in  having  the  united 
provinces  of  Prussia  and  Brandenburg  recognized  by 
the  Emperor  of  Germany  as  the  kingdom  of  Prussia. 
The  sovereigns  of  Southern  Europe  looked  quite  con- 
temptuously upon  this  new-born  and  petty  realm,  and 
were  not  at  all  disposed  to  receive  the  parvenu  Idng  into 
their  society  as  an  equal. 

Berlin  was  the  capital  of  the  Marquisate  of  Branden- 
burg :  Konigsberg  was  the  capital  of  the  Duchy  of 
Prussia.  Though  the  marquis,  Frederick,  was  crowned 
at  Konigsberg,  he  chose  Berlin  as  the  capital  of  his  new 
kingdom.  He  took  the  title  of  Frederick  I.  The  king 
had  a  son,  Frederick  WiUiam,  then  ten  years  of  age. 
As  heir  to  the  throne,  he  was  called  \kvQ,  Crown  Prince. 
When  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  married  Sophie  Doro- 
thee,  his  cousin,  a  daughter  of  George,  Elector  of  Hano- 
ver, who  subsequently  became  George  I.  of  England. 
On  the  24th  of  January,  1712,  a  son  was  born  to  the 
Crown  Prince,  who  received  the  name  of  Frederick,  and 
subsequently  became  renowned  in  history  as  Frederick 
the  Great.  The  babe,  whose  advent  was  hailed  through- 
out the  kingdom  with  so  much  joy  as  heir  to  the  crown, 
had  at  that  time  a  sister,  Wilhelmina,  three  years  older 
than  himself.  At  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Frederick, 
the  monarchy  was  but  twelve  years  old.  His  grand- 
father, Frederick  L,  was  still  living ;  and  his  father  Avas 
Crown  Prince. 

When  Frederick  was  fourteen  months  old,  his  grand- 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   MOXARCQY.  11 

father,  Frederick  I.,  died,  and  his  fatlier,  Frederick  Wil- 
liam, ascended  the  thi-one.  He  was  one  of  the  strangest 
men  of  whom  history  makes  mention.  It  is  difficult 
to  account  for  his  conduct  upon  any  other  supposition 
than  that  he  was  partially  insane.  His  father  had  been 
fond  of  the  pageantry  of  courts.  Frederick  William 
despised  such  pageantry  thoroughly.  Immediately  u])on 
assuming  the  crown,  to  the  utter  consternation  of  the 
court  he  dismissed  nearly  every  honorary  official  of  the 
palace,  from  the  highest  dignitary  to  the  humblest  page. 
His  household  was  reduced  to  the  lowest  footing  of 
economy.  Eight  servants  were  retained,  at  six  shillings 
a  week.  His  father  had  thirty  pages.  All  were  dis- 
missed but  three.  There  were  one  thousand  saddle- 
horses  in  the  royal  stables.  Frederick  retained  thirty. 
Three-fourths  of  the  names  Avere  struck  from  the  pen- 
sion-list. 

The  energy  of  the  new  sovereign  inspired  the  whole 
kingdom.  Everybody  was  compelled  to  be  industrious. 
Even  the  apple-women  were  forced,  by  a  royal  decree, 
to  knit  at  their  stalls.  The  king  farmed  out  the  crown- 
lands,  drained  bogs,  planted  colonies,  established  manu- 
factures, and  encouraged  every  branch  of  industry  by 
all  the  energies  of  absolute  power. 

Frederick  William,  a  tliick-set,  burly  man,  ever 
carried  with  him,  as  he  walked  the  streets  of  Berlin,  a 
stout  ratan-cane.  Upon  the  slightest  provocation,  he 
would  soundly  tlirash  any  one  whom  he  encountered. 
He  especially  hated  the  refmement  and  polish  of  the 
Frencli  nation.  If  he  met  a  lady  in  rich  attbe,  she  was 
sure  to  be  rudely  assailed :  he  would  often  even  give 
her  a  kick,  and  tell  her  to  go  home  and  take  care  of  her 
brats.     No  young  man  fashionably  dressed  coidd  cross 


12  HISTORY    OF    PRUSSIA. 

the  king's  path  without  receiving  a  sound  caning  if  the 
royal  arm  could  reach  him.  If  he  met  any  one  who 
seemed  to  be  lounging  in  tlie  streets,  he  would  hit  him 
a  blow  over  the  head,  exclaiming,  "  Home,  you  rascal, 
and  go  to  work  !  " 

Frederick  was  scrupulously  clean.  He  washed  five 
times  a  day.  He  would  allow  in  the  palace  no  carpets 
or  stuffed  furniture.  They  caught  the  dust.  He  ate 
rapidly  and  voraciously  of  the  most  substantial  food, 
despising  all  luxuries.  His  dress  usually  consisted  of  a 
blue  military  coat  with  red  cuffs  and  collar,  buff  waist- 
coat and  breeches,  and  white  linen  gaiters  to  the  knee. 
A  well-worn  triangular  hat  covered  his  head. 

By  severe  economy,  small  as  were  his  realms,  and 
limited  as  were  his  revenues,  he  raised  an  army  of  nearly 
a  hundred  thousand  men.  An  imposing  army  seemed 
to  be  the  great  object  of  his  ambition.  He  drilled  his 
troops,  personally,  as  troops  were  never  drilled  before. 
Possessing  an  u^on  constitution,  and  regardless  of  com- 
fort himself,  he  had  no  mercy  upon  his  soldiers.  Thus 
he  created  the  most  powerful  military  engine,  for  its 
size,  ever  known  upon  earth. 

The  French  minister  at  Berlin,  Count  Rothenburg, 
was  a  very  accomphshed  man.  He  wore  the  dress,  and 
had  the  manners,  of  the  French  gentlemen  of  that  day. 
He  and  liis  associates  in  the  embassy  excited  the  ire  of 
the  king  as  they  appeared  at  Berlm  in  the  gorgeous 
court-dresses  of  the  Tuileries  and  Versailles.  The  king, 
in  his  homespun  garb,  resolved  that  the  example  should 
not  spread. 

There  was  to  be  a  grand  review  at  Berlin.  The 
French  embassy  would  be  present  in  theu'  accustomed 
costume  of  cocked  hats,  flowing  wigs,  and  laced  coats. 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   MONARCHY.  13 

Tlic  king  caused  a  party  of  llio  lowest  of  the  populace 
of  Berlin,  equal  in  number,  to  be  dressed  in  the  most 
grotesque  caricature  of  the  French  costume.  As  soon 
03  the  French  appeared  upon  the  field,  there  was  a 
great  sound  of  trumpets  ;  and  these  harlequins  were 
brought  forward  to  confront  them.  Military  discipline 
reigned.  There  was  no  derisive  laughter.  There  waa 
perfect  silence.  The  king  sat  upon  his  horse  as  im- 
movable as  a  marble  statue.  With  French  politeness, 
the  ministers  of  Louis  submitted  to  the  discourtesy,  and 
ever  after  appeared  in  the  homespun  garb  of  Berlin. 

Frederick  was  very  desirous  that  his  son,  whom  he 
called  by  the  diminutive  Fritz,  should  develop  warlike 
tastes ;  but,  to  his  bitter  disappointment,  the  child 
seemed  to  be  of  an  effeminate  nature.  He  was  gentle, 
affectionate,  fond  of  music  and  books,  and  clung  to  his 
sister  Wilhelmina  with  almost  feminine  love.  The  king 
deemed  these  qualities  unmanly,  and  soon  began  to 
despise,  and  then  to  hate,  the  child.  Still  the  energetic 
king  resolved  to  leave  no  efforts  untried  to  make  a 
soldier  of  his  boy. 

"When  Fritz  was  six  years  old,  his  father  organized  a 
company  of  a  hundi'cd  high-born  lads,  to  be  placed 
under  his  command.  Tlie  number  was  gradually  in- 
creased to  a  regiment,  of  which  Fritz  was  colonel.  When 
seven  years  of  age,  he  was  placed  under  the  care  of 
tutors,  who  were  directed  to  press  forward  his  education, 
iiitellectual  and  military,  with  the  most  merciless  vigor. 
In  the  orders  given  to  the  distinguished  military  men  to 
whom  the  education  of  the  child  was  intrusted,  tlie 
king  said,  — 

"  You  have  in  the  highest  measure  to  make  it  your 
cai"e  to  infuse  into  my  son  a  true  love  for  tlie  soldier- 


14  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

business,  and  to  impress  on  him,  that  as  there  is  nothing 
in  the  world  which  can  bring  a  prince  renown  and  honor 
like  the  sword,  so  he  would  be  a  despised  creature  be- 
fore all  men  if  he  did  not  love  it  and  seek  his  sole  glory 
therein." 

The  poor  little  fellow  was  exposed  to  almost  incredi- 
ble hardships.  His  father  took  him  on  his  journeys  to 
review  his  garrisons.  Theu*  carriage  was  what  was  called 
a  sausage-car.  It  consisted  merely  of  a  stuffed  pole, 
about  ten  feet  long,  upon  which  one  sat  astride,  as  if 
riding  a  rail.  This  pole  rested  upon  wheels  before  and 
behind,  without  springs.  Thus  they  rattled  over  the 
mountains  and  through  the  mud.  The  delicate,  sensi- 
tive child  was  robbed  of  his  sleep  as  liis  cast-u'on  father 
pressed  him  along  on  these  wild  adventures,  regardless 
of  fatigue  or  storms.  "  Too  much  sleep,"  said  the  king, 
"  stupefies  a  fellow." 

Every  fibre  in  the  soul  of  Fritz  recoiled  from  this  rude 
discipline.  He  hated  hunting  boars,  and  riding  on  the 
sausage-car,  and  being  drenched  with  rain,  and  spat- 
tered with  mud. 

Instinctive  tastes  are  developed  very  early  in  child- 
hood. When  Frederick  Wilham  was  a  bo}'",  some  one 
presented  him  with  a  very  beautiful  French  dressing- 
gown  embroidered  with  gold.  He  thrust  the  robe  into 
the  fire,  declaring  that  he  would  never  wear  such  finery. 

Fritz,  on  the  contrary,  could  not  endure  homespun. 
He  loved  clothes  of  fine  texture,  and  tastefully  orna- 
mented. Most  of  the  early  years  of  the  prince  were 
spent  at  Wusterhausen.  This  was  a  plain,  rectangular 
palace,  surrounded  by .  a  ditch,  in  a  very  unattractive 
region.  Though  there  were  some  picturesque  drives, 
yet,  to  Frederick's  eye,  the  gloomy  forests  and  pathless 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   MOXARCHY.  15 

morasses  head  no  charms.  The  pahices  of  Berlin  and 
Potsdam,  which  the  pleasure-loving  monarch,  Frederick 
I.,  had  embellished,  still  retained  much  splendor;  but  the 
king  furnished  the  apartments  wliich  he  occupied  in 
stoical  simplicity. 

The  health  of  Fritz  was  frail.  He  was  very  fond  of 
study,  particularly  of  the  Latin  language.  His  illiterate 
father,  who  could  scarcely  write  legil^ly,  and  whose 
spelling  was  ludicrous,  took  a  special  dislike  to  Latin. 
One  day  he  caught  his  son  with  a  Latin  book  in  his 
hand,  under  the  guidance  of  a  teacher.  The  king  was 
infuriated.  The  preceptor  escaped  a  caning  only  by 
flight.  Still  more  vehemently  was  he  enraged  in  de- 
tecting his  son  playing  the  flute,  and  with  some  verses 
which  he  had  written  by  his  side.  With  inexpressible 
scorn  he  exclaimed,  "  My  son  is  a  flute-player  and  a 
poet .!  " 

There  was  no  point  at  which  the  father  and  the  son 
met  in  harmony.  Every  month,  they  became  more  es- 
tranged from  each  other.  The  mother  of  Fritz,  Sophie 
Dorothee,  and  his  sister  Wilhelmina,  loved  him  tenderly. 
This  exasperated  the  king.  He  extended  his  hatred  for 
the  boy  to  his  mother  and  sister. 

At  length,  another  son  was  born,  —  Augustus  Wil- 
liam,—  ten  years  younger  than  Frederick.  The  father 
now  evidently  wished  that  Frederick  would  die,  that 
Augustus  William  might  become  heir  to  the  throne.  He 
hoped  that  he  would  develop  a  different  character  from 
that  of  Fritz.  Still  the  king  persevered  in  his  endeavors 
to  inspire  Fritz  with  his  own  rugged  nature  and  tastes. 

George  of  Hanover  having  become  George  I.  of  Eng- 
land, his  daugliter,  the  mother  of  Fritz,  became  very 
desu-ous  of  marrying  her  two  children,  Wilhelmina  and 


16  HISTORY   OF   PKUSSIA. 

Fritz,  to  Frederick  and  Amelia,  the  two  children  of  her 
brother  George,  who  was  then  Prince  of  Wales.  But 
Frederick  William,  and  George,  Prince  of  Wales,  had 
met  as  boys,  and  quarrelled ;  and  they  hated  each  other 
thoroughly.  The  other  powers  of  Europe  were  opposed 
to  this  double  marriage,  as  thus  the  kingdoms  of  Prus- 
sia and  England  would  virtually  be  united. 

The  young  English  Frederick  bore  the  title  of  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester.  It  was  at  length  agreed  by  the 
English  court  that  Frederick  should  marry  Wilhelmina ; 
but  there  were  still  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  marriage 
of  Fritz  with  Amelia.  The  Duke  of  Gloucester  sent 
an  envoy  with  some  presents  to  Wilhelmina.  In  the 
following  graphic  terms,  the  Prussian  princess  describes 
the  interview :  — 

"  There  came,  in  those  days,  one  of  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester's  gentlemen  to  Berlin.  The  queen  had  a 
soiree.  He  was  presented  to  her  as  well  as  to  me.  He 
made  a  very  obliging  compliment  on  his  master's  part. 
I  blushed,  and  answered  only  by  a  courtesy.  The  queen, 
who  had  her  eye  on  me,  was  very  angry  that  I  had  an- 
swered the  duke's  compliments  in  mere  silence,  and 
rated  me  sharply  for  it,  and  ordered  me,  under  pain  of 
her  indignation,  to  repair  that  fault  to-morrow.  I  re- 
tired, all  in  tears,  to  my  room,  exasperated  against  the 
queen  and  against  the  duke.  I  vowed  I  would  never 
marry  him." 

Wilhelmina  was  a  yqvj  remarkable  girl,  endowed  with 
a  very  affectionate,  intellectual,  and  noble  nature.  Fred- 
erick of  England  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  a  very  dis- 
solute fellow,  and  exceedingly  unattractive  in  personal 
appearance.  Wilhelmina  says  that  her  grandfather, 
George  I.,  after  he  became  King  of  England,  was  intoler- 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   MONAIICIIY.  17 

ably  puifod  up  with  pride.  He  was  disposed  to  luuli 
quite  contemptuously  upon  her  father,  who  was  king  of 
so  feeble  a  realm  as  that  of  Prussia.  Though  George 
had  given  a  verbal  assent  to  the  marriage  of  his  grand- 
son with  Wilhelmina,  he  declined,  upon  various  frivolous 
excuses,  signing  a  marriage-treaty.  Wilhelmina  was 
quite  indifferent  to  the  matter.  She  declared  that  she 
cared  nothing  for  her  cousin  Fred,  whom  she  had  never 
seen  ;  and  that  she  had  no  wish  to  marry  him. 

When  Fritz  had  attained  his  fourteenth  year,  his 
father  appointed  him  captain  of  one  of  the  companies  in 
the  Potsdam  Grenadier  Guard.  This  was  a  giant  regi- 
ment created  by  the  caprice  of  Frederick  William,  and 
which  had  obtained  world-wide  renown.  Such  a  regi- 
ment never  existed  before,  and  never  will  again.  It  was 
composed  of  giants,  the  shortest  of  whom  were  nearly 
seven  feet  high :  the  tallest  were  almost  nine  feet  in 
lieight.  Frederick  William  had  ransacked  Europe  in 
search  of  gigantic  men.  No  expense  of  money,  intrigues, 
or  fraud,  were  spared  to  obtain  such  men  wherever 
found.  The  Guard  consisted  of  three  battalions, — 
eight  hundred  in  each. 

Frederick  William  swayed  a  sceptre  of  absolute  power 
never  surpassed  in  Turkey.  It  was  a  personal  govern- 
ment. The  property,  the  liberty,  and  the  lives  of  his 
subjects  were  entirely  at  his  disposal.  He  was  anxious 
to  perpetuate  a  race  of  giants.  If  he  found  in  his 
domains  any  young  woman  of  remarkable  stature,  he 
would  compel  her  to  marry  one  of  his  military  Goliaths. 
It  does  not,  however,  appear  that  he  thus  succeeded  in 
accomplishing  his  purpose. 

One  only  thought  seemed  to  engross  the  mind  of 
Sophie  Dorothee,  —  the  double  marriage.    Her  maternal 

2 


18  HISTORY   OP  PRUSSIA. 

ambition  would  be  gratified  in  seeing  Willielmina  Queen 
of  England,  and  her  beloved  son  Fritz  married  to  an 
English  princess.  Frederick  William,  with  his  wonder- 
fully determined  character,  his  military  predilections,  and 
]iis  army  of  extraordinarj^  compactness  and  discipline, 
began  to  be  regarded  by  the  other  powers  as  a  very  for- 
midable sovereign,  and  one  whose  alliance  was  greatly  to 
be  desired.  Notwithstanding  he  had  an  army  of  sixty 
thousand  men,  —  which  army  he  was  rapidly  increasing, 
and  subjecting  to  discipline  hitherto  unheard  of  in 
Europe,  —  he  practised  such  rigid  economy,  that  he  was 
rapidly  filling  his  treasury  with  silver  and  gold.  In  the 
cellar  of  his  palace  a  large  number  of  casks  were  stowed 
away,  filled  with  coin.  A  vast  amount  of  silver  was  also 
wrought  into  massive  plate,  and  even  into  furnitiu"e  and 
the  balustrades  of  his  stairs.  These,  in  case  of  emer- 
gency, could  be  melted  and  coined. 

This  strange  king  organized  a  peculiar  institution, 
which  was  called  "  The  Tobacco  Parliament."  It  con- 
sisted of  a  meeting  of  about  a  dozen  of  his  "confidential 
friends,  who  were  assembled  almost  daily  in  some  room 
in  the  palace  to  drink  beer,  smoke  their  pipes,  and  talk 
over  matters.  Distinguished  strangers  were  sometimes 
admitted.  Fritz  was  occasionally  present,  though  always 
reluctantly  on  his  part.  His  sensitive  physical  system 
recoiled  from  the  beer  and  the  smoke.  Though  he  was 
under  the  necessity  of  putting  the  pipe  in  his  mouth,  he 
placed  no  tobacco  in  the  bowl.  His  father  despised  the 
fragile  boy,  whom  he  deemed  so  effeminate. 

The  double  marriage  was  still  the  topic  of  conversa- 
tion in  all  the  courts  of  Europe.  In  the  year  1726,  the 
Emperor  of  Germany,-  who  was  invested  with  extraor- 
dinary power  over  all  the  German  princes,  issued  a  de- 


OKIGIN   OF  THE  MONARCHY.  10 

crce,  declaring  that  he  coukl  not  consent  to  the  douhlo 
nuptial  alliance  with  England.  This  decision  did  not 
trouble  Frederick  William ;  for  he  so  thoroughly  hated 
his  English  relatives,  that  he  was  not  desirous  of  any 
very  ultimate  alliance  with  them.  He  was  willing  that 
Wilhelmina  should  marry  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  be- 
cause she  would  thus  become  eventually  Queen  of  Eng- 
land. 

On  the  other  side,  the  King  of  England  earnestly 
desired  that  his  grand-daughter  Amelia  should  marry 
Fritz  ;  for  she  would  thus  become  Queen  of  Prussia.  He 
therefore  declared  that  he  would  not  allow  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester  to  marry  Wilhelmina  unless  Amelia  also 
married  Fritz. 

But  Frederick  William  was  opposed  to  the  marriage 
of  Fritz  and  Amelia  for  three  reasons :  First,  He  was, 
by  natiu-e,  an  intensely  obstinate  man ;  and  the  fact  that 
the  King  of  England  was  in  favor  of  any  project  was 
sufficient  to  make  him  opposed  to  it.  Secondly,  He  hated 
Fritz,  and  did  not  wish  him  to  enjoy  the  good  fortune  of 
marrying  a  rich  and  beautiful  English  princess.  '  And, 
thirdly.  He  knew  that  Amelia,  as  the  bride  of  Fritz, 
would  bring  to  Berlin  wealth  of  her  own,  and  the  refine- 
ments of  the  British  court,  and  that  thus  Fritz  might  be 
able  to  organize  a  party  against  liis  father. 

Fredei'ick  William  therefore  said,  "  Frederick  of  Eng- 
land may  marry  Wilhelmina ;  but  Fritz  shall  not  marry 
Amelia."  George  I.  replied,  "  Both  marriages,  or  none." 
Thus  matters  were  brought  to  a  dead  lock. 

While  these  intrigues  were  agitating  both  courts, 
Fritz  was  residing,  most  of  the  time,  at  Potsdam,  —  a  fa- 
vorite royal  residence,  about  seventeen  miles  west  from 
Berlin.     In  the  year  1729  lie  was  seventeen  years  of  ago, 


20  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

a  very  handsome  boy,  attracting  much  attention  by  his 
vivacity  and  liis  engaging  manners.  He  was  occasion- 
ally dragged  by  his  father  into  the  Tobacco  Parhament, 
where,  sickened  by  the  fumes  of  tobacco  and  beer,  he 
sat  in  mock  gravity,  puffing  from  his  empty  white  clay 
pipe. 

In  June,  1729,  a  courier  brought  the  intelligence  to 
Berlin  that  George  I.  had  suddenly  died  of  apoplexy. 
He  was  sixty-seven  years  of  age  when  Death's  fatal  shaft 
struck  him,  while  on  a  journey  in  his  carriage.  As  he 
sank  before  the  blow,  he  exclaimed,  "  All  is  over  with 
me  !  "  and  his  spirit  passed  away  to  the  judgment. 

Much  as  the  half-insane  King  of  Prussia  hated 
George  I.,  his  sudden  death  deeply  affected  him.  He 
became  very  religious  in  all  pharisaic  forms  of  self-de- 
nial, and  in  spreading  almost  sepulchral  gloom  over  the 
palace  by  the  interdict  of  all  enjoyment.  Wilhelmina 
writes  of  her  father  at  this  time,  — 

"  He  condemned  all  pleasures.  '  Damnable  all  of 
them,'  he  said.  You  were  to  speak  of  nothing  but  the 
word  of  God  only.  All  other  conversation  was  forbid- 
den. It  was  always  he  who  carried  on  the  improving 
talk  at  table,  where  he  did  the  office  of  reader,  as  if  it 
had  been  a  refectory  of  monks.  The  king  treated  us 
to  a  sermon  every  afternoon.  His  valet-de-chambre 
gave  out  a  psalm,  which  we  all  sang.  You  had  to  listen 
to  this  sermon  with  as  much  devout  attention  as  if  it  had 
been  an  apostle's.  My  brother  and  I  had  all  the  mind  in 
the  world  to  laugh.  We  tried  hard  to  keep  from  laugh- 
ing ;  but  often  we  burst  out.  Thereupon  reprimand, 
with  all  the  anathemas  of  the  Church  hurled  on  us, 
which  we  had  to  take  with  a  contrite,  penitent  air,  —  a 
thing  not  easy  to  bring  your  face  to  at  the  moment." 


ORIGIN    OF   THE   MONARCHY.  21 

Fritz,  about  tliis  time,  was  takon  by  his  fallier  on 
ft  visit  to  Augustus,  King  of  Poland,  at  Dresden.  The 
court  was  exceedingly  dissolute,  filled  with  every  temp- 
tation which  could  endanger  an  ardent  young  man. 
Fritz,  Avho  had  hitherto  encountered  only  the  severity 
and  gloom  of  his  father's  palace,  was  bewildered  by 
scenes  of  voluptuousness  and  sin  which  could  liave 
hardly  been  surpassed  at  Belshazzar's  feast. 

He  was  very  handsome,  full  of  vivacity,  and  remarkably 
(j^ualified  to  shine  in  society ;  and,  being  direct  heir  to  the 
tin-one  of  Prussia,  he  was  the  object  of  incessant  atten- 
tions and  caressings.  Child  as  he  was,  he  fell  before 
these  great  temptations.  It  was  a  fall  from  which  he 
never  recovered.  His  moral  nature  received  a  wound 
which  poisoned  all  his  days. 

Upon  his  return  to  Potsdam,  after  a  month  of  reckless 
abandonment  to  sin,  he  was  seized  with  a  severe  fit  of 
sickness.  It  was  many  years  before  his  constitution  re- 
covered its  vigor.  His  dissipated  habits  clung  to  him. 
He  chose  for  his  companions  those  who  were  in  sympa- 
thy with  his  newly-acquired  tastes  and  character.  His 
vigorous  father,  keeping  an  eagle-eye  upon  his  son,  often 
assailed  him  with  the  most  insane  ebullitions  of  rage. 

Still,  Sophie  Dorothee,  notwithstanding  all  obstacles, 
clung  with  a  mother's  pertinacity  to  the  idea  of  the 
double  marriage.  Her  brother,  George  II.,  was  now 
King  of  England ;  and  Frederick  was  Prince  of  Wales, 
direct  heir  to  the  crown.  He  was  then  twentj^-one 
years  of  age,  living  an  idle  and  dissolute  life  in  Hanover. 
Wilhelmina  was  nineteen  years  old. 

Fritz,  though  he  had  never  seen  Amelia,  had  received 
licr  miniature.  She  was  pretty ;  would  bring  with  her  a 
large  dowry;  and  the  alliance,  in  point  of  raidc,  would 


22  HISTORY   OP   PRUSSIA. 

be  as  distinguished  as  Europe  could  furnish.  He  was, 
therefore,  quite  desirous  of  securing  Amelia  for  his 
bride.  By  the  advice  of  his  mother,  he  wrote  to  Queen 
Carohne,  the  mother  of  Amelia,  expressing  his  ardent 
affection  for  her  daughter,  and  his  unalterable  resolve 
ue^er  to  lead  any  one  but  her  to  the  altar. 

Frederick  WiUiam  knew  nothing  of  these  intrigues ; 
but  his  dislike  for  his  son  had  now  become  so  intense, 
that  often  he  would  not  speak  to  him,  or  recognize  him 
in  the  slightest  degree.  He  treated  him  at  the  table 
with  studied  contempt.  Sometimes  he  would  give  liim 
nothing  whatever  to  eat :  he  even  boxed  his  ears,  and 
smote  him  with  his  cane.  Fritz  was  induced  to  write  a 
very  suppliant  letter  to  his  father,  endeavoring  to  win 
back  at  least  his  civil  treatment.  The  answer  which 
Frederick  William  returned,  incoherent,  confused,  and 
wretchedly  spelled,  was  as  follows.  Contemptuously  he 
spoke  of  his  son  in  the  third  person,  writing  he  and  his 
instead  of  you  and  yours. 

"  His  obstinate,  perverse  disposition,  which  does  not 
love  his  father;  for  when  one  does  every  thing,  and 
really  loves  one's  father,  one  does  what  the  father  re- 
quires, not  while  he  is  there  to  see  it,  but  when  his  back 
is  turned  too.  For  the  rest,  he  knows  very  well  that  I 
can  endure  no  effeminate  fellow  who  has  no  human  in- 
clination in  him  ;  who  puts  himself  to  shame;  cannot 
ride  or  shoot ;  and  withal  is  dirty  in  his  person ;  frizzles 
his  hair  like  a  fool,  and  does  not  cut  it  off.  And  all  this 
I  have  a  thousand  times  reprimanded,  but  all  in  vain, 
and  no  improvement  in  nothing.  For  the  rest  haughty, 
proud  as  a  churl ;  sp>eaks  to  nobody  but  some  few ;  and 
is  not  popular  and  affable ;  and  cuts  grimaces  with  his 


ORIGIN    OF  THE   MONARCHY.  23 

face'  as  if  he  were  a  fool ;  and  docs  my  will  in  nothing 
bat  following  his  own  whims  ;  no  use  to  him  in  any 
thing  else.     This  is  the  answer. 

"  Frederick   William." 

The  king  was  a  hard  drinker  ;  very  intemperate.  In 
January,  1729,  he  was  seized  with  a  severe  attack  of  the 
gout.  His  boorish,  savage  nature  was  terribly  developed 
by  the  pangs  of  the  disease.  He  vented  his  spleen 
upon  all  who  came  within  hearing  of  his  tongue,  or 
reach  of  his  crutch  ;  and  yet  this  most  incomprehensible 
of  men,  while  assailing  his  wife  with  the  most  vituperative 
terms  which  the  vocabulary  of  abuse  could  afford,  woulc] 
never  allow  a  profane  expression  or  an  indelicate  allusion 
in  his  presence  !  His  sickness  lasted  five  weeks .  Wil- 
helmina  writes,  "  The  pains  of  purgatory  could  not  equal 
those  which  we  endured." 

The  unhappy  royal  family  at  this  time  consisted  of 
the  following  children  :  Wilhelmina,  Fritz,  Frederica, 
Charlotte,  Sophie  Dorothec,  Ulriquc,  August  Wilhelm, 
Amelia,  and  Henry,  who  was  a  babe  in  arms. 

Frederica,  who  is  described  as  beautiful  as  an  angel, 
and  a  spoiled  child  of  fifteen,  became  engaged  to  the 
Marquis  of  Anspach.  She  was  the  only  one  of  the 
family  who  ventured  to  speak  to  her  father  with  any 
freedom.  One  day,  at  the  table,  just  before  her  ap- 
proaching nuptials,  the  king,  who  was  then  suffering 
from  the  gout,  asked  her  how  she  intended  to  regulate 
her  housekeeping.     She  replied,  — 

"  I  shall  have  a  good  table,  delicately  served,  —  better 
than  yours  ;  and,  if  I  have  children,  I  will  not  maltreat 
them  as  you  do,  nor  force  them  to  eat  what  they  have 
au  aversion  to." 


24  HISTORY    OF   PRUSSIA. 

"  This,"  writes  Wilhelmina,  "  put  the  king  quite  in  a 
fury  ;  hut  all  his  anger  fell  on  my  brother  and  me.  He 
first  threw  a  plate  at  my  brother's  head,  who  ducked  out 
of  the  way.  He  then  let  fly  another  at  me,  which  I 
a^  oided  in  like  manner.  He  then  rose  into  a  passion 
against  the  queen,  reproaching  her  with  the  bad  training 
which  she  gave  her  children. 

"  We  rose  from  the  table.  As  we  had  to  pass  near 
him  in  going  out,  he  aimed  a  great  blow  at  me  with 
his  crutch,  which,  if  I  had  not  jerked  away  from  it,  would 
have  ended  me.  He  chased  me  for  a  while  in  his  wheel- 
chair ;  but  the  people  drawing  it  gave  me  time  to  escape 
to  the  queen's  chamber." 

While  the  king's  peculiarly  irascible  nature  was  thus 
stimulated  by  the  pangs  of  the  gout,  he  was  incessantly 
venting  his  rage  upon  his  wife  and  children. 

"  We  were  obliged,"  writes  Wilhelmina,  "  to  appear 
at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  in  his  room.  We  dined 
there,  and  did  not  dare  to  leave  it,  even  for  a  moment. 
Every  day  was  passed  by  the  king  in  invectives  against ' 
my  brother  and  myself.  He  no  longer  called  me  any 
thing  but  the  English  blackguard :  my  brother  was 
named  the  rascal  Fritz.  He  obliged  us  to  eat  and  drink 
the  things  for  which  we  had  an  aversion.  Every  day 
was  marked  by  some  sinister  event.  It  was  impossible 
to  raise  one's  eyes  without  seeing  some  unhappy  people 
tormented  in  one  way  or  another.  The  king's  restlessness 
did  not  allow  him  to  remain  in  bed :  he  had  placed  him- 
self in  a  chair  on  rollers,  and  was  thus  dragged  all  over 
the  place.  His  two  arms  rested  upon  crutches  which 
supported  them.  We  always  followed  this  triumphal 
car,  hke  unhappy  captives  who  are  about  to  undergo 
theu'  sentence." 


CHAPTER    II. 

FRITZ,    AND   THE    COMMENCEMENT    OF    HIS    REIGN. 

S  we  have  mentioned,  Fritz  was  very  fond 
of  music.  A  teacher  from  Dresden,  by  the 
name  of  Quantz,  was  secretly  instructing 
him  on  the  flute.  His  mother,  in  sympathy 
with  her  child,  aided  him  in  this  gratifica- 
tion. They  both  knew  full  well,  that,  should 
the  king  detect  him  with  a  flute  in  his  hand, 
the  instrument  would  instantly  be  broken  over  the  poor 
boy's  head.  Fritz  resided  with  his  regiment  at  Pots- 
dam. He  never  knew  when  his  father  would  make  his 
appearance. 

Whenever  Fritz  was  with  his  music-teacher,  an  inti- 
mate friend,  Lieut.  Katte,  was  placed  on  the  lookout. 
His  mother  also,  at  Berlin,  kept  a  vigilant  watch,  ready 
to  despatch  a  courier  to  her  sou  whenever  she  suspected 
that  the  king  was  about  to  visit  Potsdam. 

One  day,  the  prince,  luxuriating  in  a  rich  French 
dressing-gown,  was  in  the  height  of  his  clandestine  en- 
joyment with  his  flute,  when  he  was  terrified  by  Katte's 
Inirsting  into  the  room  with  the  announcement  that  his 
wily  and  ever-suspicious  father  was  already  at  the  door. 
Katte  and  (Quantz  seized  flute  and  music-books,  and 
rushed  into  a  wood-closet.  Fritz  threw  oft'  his  dressing- 
gown,  and,  linrrying  on  his  military  coat,  sat  down  at  tho 


26  HISTORY   OP   PEUSSIA. 

table  as  if  engaged  in  some  abstruse  mathematical  prob- 
lem. The  father  burst  into  the  room,  frowning  like  a 
thuncler-cloud.  A  French  barber  had  dressed  Fritz's 
hair  in  the  most  approved  Parisian  style.  The  sight  of 
his  frizzled  curls  called  down  upon  the  head  of  the  prince 
the  most  astonishing  storms  of  vituperative  epithets. 

Just  then,  the  king  caught  sight  of  the  dressing-gown. 
With  a  new  outburst  of  rage,  he  crammed  it  into  the 
fire.  Hating  every  thing  that  was  French,  he  searched 
the  room,  and  collected  every  book  he  could  find  in  that 
language,  of  which  Fritz  had  quite  a  library.  Sending 
for  a  neighboring  bookseller,  he  ordered  him  to  take 
them  awa}^  and  sell  them  for  what  they  would  bring. 
Had  he  chanced  to  open  the  door  of  the  wood-closet, 
Katte  and  Quantz  would  have  been  terribly  beaten, 
even  had  they  escaped  the  headsman's  block. 

"  The  Idng,"  writes  Wilhelmina,  "  almost  caused  my 
brother  and  myself  to  die  of  hunger.  He  always  acted 
as  carver,  and  served  everybody  except  us.  When,  by 
chance,  there  remained  any  thing  in  the  dish,  he  spit 
into  it  to  prevent  our  eating  of  it.  I  was  abused  with 
insults  and  invectives  all  day  long,  in  every  possible 
manner,  and  before  everybody. 

"  The  queen  contrived  in  her  bedroom  a  labyrinth  of 
screens,  so  that  I  could  escape  without  being  seen, 
should  the  king  suddenly  enter.  One  day,  he  surprised 
us.  In  attempting  to  escape,  several  of  the  screens  fell. 
The  king  was  at  my  heels,  and  tried  to  catch  hold  of 
me  and  beat  me.  He  overwhelmed  me  with  abuse,  and 
endeavored  to  seize  me  by  the  hair.  I  fell  upon  the 
floor,  near  the  fire.  The  scene  would  have  had  a  tragi- 
cal end  had  it  continued,  as  my  clothes  were  actually 
beginning  to  take  fire.     The  king,  fatigued  with  crying 


FRITZ.  27 

out  and  with  his  passion,  at  length  put  an  end  to  it,  and 
went  his  wa3\" 

Again  Wilhelmina  writes,  "  This  dear  brother  passed 
his  afternoons  with  me.  We  read  and  wrote  together, 
and  occupied  ourselves  in  cultivating  our  minds.  The 
Idng  now  never  saw  my  brother  without  threatening 
him  with  the  cane." 

The  following  occurrence  is  recorded  by  Wilhelmina, 
as  related  to  her  by  Fritz :  "  As  I  entered  the  king's 
room  this  morning,  he  first  seized  me  by  the  hair,  and 
then  threw  me  on  the  floor;  along  which,  after  having 
exercised  the  vigor  of  his  arm  upon  my  person,  he 
dragged  me,  in  spite  of  all  my  resistance,  to  a  neighbor- 
ing window.  His  object,  apparentl}^  was  to  perform  the 
office  of  the  mutes  of  the  seraglio ;  for,  seizing  the  cord 
belonging  to  the  curtain,  he  placed  it  around  my  neck. 
I  seized  both  of  his  hands,  and  began  to  cry  out.  A 
servant  came  to  my  assistance,  and  delivered  me  from 
his  hands." 

In  view  of  this  event,  Fritz  wrote  to  his  mother,  "  I 
am  in  despair.  The  king  has  forgotten  that  I  am  his 
son.  This  morning,  at  first  sight  of  me,  he  seized  me 
by  the  collar,  and  struck  me  a  shower  of  cruel  blows 
^^'ith  his  ratan.  He  was  almost  beside  himself  with 
rage.  I  am  driven  to  extremity.  I  have  too  much 
honor  to  endure  such  treatment,  and  I  am  resolved  to 
put  an  end  to  it  one  way  or  another." 

In  June,  1700,  tlic  King  of  Poland  held  a  magnificent 
review  at  ]\luhlberg.  Frederick  William  attended,  tak- 
ing his  son  with  him.  Fritz  was  exposed  to  every  mor- 
tification which  his  unnatural  parent  could  inflict  upon 
him.  In  the  presence  of  the  monarch,  the  lords  and 
ladies,  he  was  treated  by  his  father  with  the  grossest 


28  HISTORY    OF  PRUSSIA. 

insults.  The  king  even  openly  flogged  liim  with  a 
ratan.     Adding  mockery  to  his  cruelty,  he  said,  — 

"  Had  I  been  so  treated  by  my  father,  I  would  have 
blown  my  brains  out.  But  tliis  fellow  has  no  honor: 
he  takes  all  that  comes." 

Fritz,  goaded  to  madness,  attempted,  with  the  aid  of 
a  friend  (Lieut.  Katte),  to  escape  to  England.  He  was 
arrested.  The  king,  in  his  rage,  seized  him  by  the  col- 
lar, hustled  him  about,  tore  out  handfuls  of  his  hair, 
and  smote  him  on  the  face  with  his  cane,  causing  the 
blood  to  gush  from  his  nose. 

"  Never  before,"  exclaimed  the  unhappy  prince,  "  did 
a  Brandenburg  face  suffer  the  like  of  this.  I  cannot 
endure  the  treatment  which  I  receive  from  my  father,  — 
his  abuse  and  blows.  I  am  so  miserable,  that  I  care  but 
little  for  my  own  life." 

The  king  assumed  that  his  son,  being  an  officer  in  the 
army,  was  a  deserter,  and  merited  death.  He  impris- 
oned him  in  a  strong  fortress  to  await  his  trial  as  a 
deserter.  He  assailed  Wilhelmina  with  the  utmost 
ferocity  because  she  was  in  sympathy  with  her  brother. 

"He  no  sooner  noticed  me,"  writes  Wilhelmina,  "than 
rage  and  fury  took  possession  of  him.  He  became  black 
iu  the  face,  his  eyes  sparkling  fire,  his  mouth  foaming. 
'  Infamous  wretch,'  said  he,  '  go  keep  your  scoundrel 
brother  company ! ' 

"  So  saying,  he  seized  me  with  one  hand,  strildng  me 
several  blows  in  the  face  with  the  other  fist.  One  of 
the  blows  struck  me  on  the  temple.  I  lay  on  the  floor 
without  consciousness.  The  king,  in  his  frenzy,  pro- 
ceeded to  kick  me  out  of  the  window,  which  opened  to 
the  floor.  The  queen  and  my  sisters  ran  bet  wee  q,  pre- 
venting him.      My  head  was  swollen  with  the  blowa 


FRITZ.  29 

which  I  had  received.  ITiey  threw  water  upon  my 
face  to  bring  me  to  life  ;  which  care  I  lamentably  re- 
proached them  with,  death  being  a  thousand  times  better 
in  the  pass  things  had  come  to.  The  king's  face  was  so 
disfigured  with  rage,  that  it  was  frightful  to  look  upon. 

"  '  I  hope,'  said  he,  '  to  have  evidence  to  convict  the 
rascal  Fritz  and  the  wretch  Wilhelmina,  and  to  cut  their 
heads  off.  As  for  Fritz,  he  will  always,  if  he  lives,"  be 
a  worthless  fellow.  I  have  three  other  sons,  who  will 
all  tiu^n  out  better  than  he  has  done.'  " 

Wilhelmina  was  imprisoned  in  her  room.  Two  senti- 
nels were  placed  at  the  door.  She  was  fed  upon  the 
coarsest  prison-fare.  A  court-martial  was  convened. 
By  order  of  the  king,  Fritz  was  condemned  to  die. 
Lieut.  Katte,  the  friend  of  Fritz,  was  accused  of  being 
privy  of  the  attempt  of  Fritz  to  escape,  and  of  not  mak- 
ing it  known.  He  was  condemned  to  tAvo  years',  some 
sa}'  to  life-long,  imprisonment.  The  king  was  exasper- 
ated by  the  leniency  of  the  verdict. 

."  Katte,"  he  exclaimed,  "  is  guilty  of  high  treason ! 
He  shall  die  by  the  sword  of  the  headsman  !  " 

A  scaffold  was  erected  in  the  yard  of  the  castle  where 
Fritz,  then  a  slender,  fragile  boy  of  eighteen,  was  im- 
prisoned. Katte  was  taken  to  the  scaffold  on  the  death- 
cart.  Four  grenadiers  held  Fritz  at  the  window  to 
compel  him  to  see  his  friend  beheaded.  Fritz  fainted 
as  Katte's  head  rolled  upon  the  scaffold.  The  Emperor 
of  Germany  interfered  in  behalf  of  the  prince,  whom  his 
father  intended  to  have  also  beheaded.  The  Idngs  of 
Poland  and  Sweden  also  interfered.  Thus  the  life 
i)f  Fritz  was  saved. 

Such  were  the  influencgs  under  "which  the  charactei 
of  Frederick  tlie  Great  was  formed.      On  the  20th  of 


30  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

November,  1731,  Wilhelmina  was,  by  moral  compulsion, 
married  to  the  Marquis  of  Baireuth.  Tlie  Idng  gradually 
became  so  far  reconciled  to  liis  son  as  to  treat  him  with 
ordinary  courtesy.  By  a  similar  compulsion,  on  the 
8th  of  Januar}'',  1733,  Fritz  was  married  to  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick.  Elizabeth  was 
beautiful,  amiable,  and  accomplished,  and  of  irreproach- 
able integrity  of  character. 

But  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  was  cold,  severe,  un- 
loving. With  undisguised  reluctance,  he  took  the  hand 
of  his  innocent  bride ;  while,  then  and  ever  after,  he 
treated  her  with  the  most  cruel  neglect.  Soon  after  the 
ceremony  of  marriage  was  performed,  he  caused,  by 
previous  arrangement,  a  false  alarm  of  fire  to  be  raised. 
Frederick  rushed  from  the  apartment  of  his  bride,  and 
did  not  return.  He  had  often  declared  that  he  never 
would  receive  the  princess  as  his  wife. 

Frederick  ever  recognized  the  legal  tie  of  their  mar- 
riage. On  state  occasions,  he  gave  Ehzabeth  the  position 
of  queen,  and  treated  her  with  that  stately  courtesy 
with  which  he  addressed  other  ladies  of  the  court  who 
were  entitled  to  his  respect.  Such  was  the  only  recog- 
nition Elizabeth  ever  received  as  his  wife. 

On  the  31st  of  May,  1740,  Frederick  William,  after  a 
long  and  painful  siclvuess,  found  himself  dying.  Tliat 
dread  hour  had  come  to  liim,  which,  sooner  or  later, 
comes  to  all.  He  sent  for  a  clergyman,  M.  Cochins, 
and,  as  he  entered,  exclaimed,  — 

"  Pray  for  me! — pray  for  me!  My  trust  is  in  the 
Saviour." 

He  called  for  a  mirror,  and  carefully  examined  his 
emaciated  features  "  Not  so  worn  out  as  I  thought," 
he  said :  "  an  ugly  face,  —  as  good  as  dead  already." 


i^  lis 

13     ^  ■§  r-1 


^^ F  Hj.y  f^^ 


KEIGN  OF  FREDERICK  II.  31 

As  he  was  thus  faintly  and  ahuost  inarticulately 
talking,  he  seemed  to  experience  some  monition  that 
death  was  immediately  at  hand.  "  Lord  Jesus,"  he 
exclaimed,  "  to  thee  I  live ;  Lord  Jesus,  to  thee  I  die. 
In  life  and  in  death,  thou  art  my  gain." 

These  were  his  last  words  on  earth.  Thus  the  soul 
of  Frederick  passed  to  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ. 

Fritz  was  now  King  of  Prussia,  —  King  Frederick  IT. 
lie  was  just  completing  his  twenty-eighth  year.  His 
realms  comprised  an  area  of  about  fifty-nine  thousand 
square  miles ;  being  about  the  size  of  the  State  of 
Michigan.  It  contained  a  population  of  2,240,000  souls. 
Frederick  was  absolute  monarch,  restrained  by  no  par- 
liament, no  constitution,  no  custom,  or  laws  superior  to 
his  own  resolves.  He  commenced  his  reign  by  declar- 
ing that  there  should  be  entire  freedom  of  conscience  in 
religion,  that  the  press  should  be  free,  and  that  it  was 
his  wish  to  make  every  one  of  his  subjects  contented 
and  happy. 

Speedily  he  taught  all  about  him  that  he  was  to  be 
undisputed  monarch.  "  I  hope,"  said  a  veteran  officer, 
spealdng  in  behalf  of  himself  and  liis  sons,  "  that  we 
shall  retain  the  same  posts  and  authority  as  in  the  last 
reign." 

"  The  same  posts"  replied  the  king,  "  certainly.  Au- 
thority—  there  is  none  but  that  which  resides  in  the 
sovereign." 

One  of  his  boon-companions  advanced,  as  had  Ijecn 
his  wont,  to  meet  him  jovially.  The  young  monarch, 
fixing  a  stern  eye  upon  him,  almost  floored  him  with  the 
rebuir,  "  I  am  now  king  !  " 

Those  who  had  been  his  friends  in  the  days  of  liis  ad- 
versity were  not  rewarded  ;  those  who  had  been  his  foes 


32  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

were  not  punished.  The  Giant  Guard  was  disbanded ; 
and,  instead  of  them,  four  regiments  of  men  of  ordinary 
stature  were  organized.  The  king  unexpectedly  devel- 
oped a  very  decided  military  taste.  He  immediately 
raised  his  standing  army  to  over  ninety  thousand  men. 
Very  systematically,  every  hour  was  assigned  to  some 
specific  duty.  He  rose  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning : 
a  single  servant  lighted  his  fire,  shaved  him,  and  dressed 
his  hair.  He  allowed  but  fifteen  minutes  for  his  morn- 
ing toilet.  The  day  was  devoted  untiringly  to  the  im- 
mense cares  which  devolved  upon  him. 

His  nominal  wife  he  recognized  in  public  as  queen, 
and  ever  treated  her,  when  it  was  necessary  that  they 
should  meet,  with  cold  civility.  Gradually  these  meet- 
ings grew  rare,  until,  after  three  or  four  years,  they 
ceased  almost  entirely.  Frederick  was  anxious  to  em- 
bellish his  reign  with  men  of  literary  and  scientific 
celebrity.  He  established  an  academy  of  sciences, 
corresponded  with  distinguished  scholars  in  other  parts 
of  Europe,  and  commenced  correspondence  and  intimate 
friendship  with  Voltaire. 

On  the  River  Maas,  a  few  miles  from  Liege,  there  was 
a  renowned  castle,  which,  with  some  thousand  surround- 
ed acres  of  land,  had  long  been  considered  a  dependency 
of  the  lords  of  Herstal.  Frederick  demanded  this  prop- 
erty upon  a  claim  too  intricate  to  be  here  fully  explained. 
Voltaire,  who  drew  up  the  manifesto,  declares  the  claim 
to  have  been  a  mere  pretext.  Two  thousand  men, 
horse  and  foot,  were  sent  to  take  possession  of  the  sur- 
rounding territory,  and  to  quarter  themselves  upon  the 
inhabitants  until  the  property,  or  its  equivalent,  was 
surrendered. 

The  Bishop  of  Liege,  who  was  in  possession,  was  a 


EEIGN  OF  FREDERICK  11.  33 

feeble  old  man  of  eigli<;y-two  years.  Resistance  was 
impossible.  The  snm  of  a  hundred  and  eighty  thou- 
sand dollars  was  paid  as  a  ransom.  "  This,"  writes 
Voltaire,  "  the  king  exacted  in  good  hard  ducats,  which 
served  to  pay  the  expenses  of  his  pleasure-tour  to  Stras- 
burg." 

On  the  20th  of  October,  1740,  the  Emperor  Charles  VI. 
died.  He  left  no  son.  That  he  might  secure  the  crown 
to  his  daughter,  Llaria  Theresa,  and  thus  save  Europe 
from  a  war  of  succession,  which  otherwise  appeared  in- 
evitable, he  issued  a  decree  called  "  The  Pragmatic 
Sanction."  This  law  had  been  accepted  and  ratified  by 
the  several  estates  of  the  Austrian  monarchy.  Prussia, 
all  the  leading  powers  of  Europe,  —  England,  France, 
Spain,  Russia,  Poland,  Sweden,  Denmark,  —  and  the 
Germanic  body,  had  solemnly  pledged  themselves  to 
maintain  the  Pragmatic  Sanction. 

Thus,  by  the  death  of  the  emperor,  his  daughter 
Maria  Theresa,  a  very  beautiful  young  wife,  twenty-four 
3'ears  of  age,  whose  husband  was  Francis,  Duke  of  Lor- 
raine, and  who  was  just  about  to  become  a  mother,  in- 
lierited  the  crown  of  Austria.  She  was  inexperienced  ; 
had  scarcely  the  shadow  of  an  army  ;  and  her  treasury 
was  deplorably  empty. 

On  the  south-eastern  frontier  of  Prussia,  between 
tliat  kingdom  and  Poland,  Maria  Theresa  had  a  province 
called  Silesia.  It  was  about  twice  as  large  as  the  State 
of  Vermont,  and  contained  a  population  of  two  millions. 
For  more  than  a  century,  Silesia  had  belonged  to  Austria. 
The  assent  of  Europe  had  sanctioned  the  title. 

Frederick  was  ambitious  of  enlarging  his  dominions : 
it  was  not  pleasant  to  be  king  of  a  realm  so  small,  that 
other  sovereigns  looked  upon  it  with  e()ntem[)t.     With 


34  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

his  powerful  standing  army,  it  was  easy  to  take  military 
possession  of  Silesia  :  it  had  no  strong  fortresses  :  there 
were  not  two  thousand  Austrian  soldiers  in  the  province. 
Frederick  could  present  no  claim  to  the  territory  which 
was  deserving  the  slightest  respect.  In  conversation 
with  his  friends,  he  frankly  admitted,  that  "  ambition, 
interest,  the  desire  of  making  people  talk  about  me, 
carried  the  day  ;  and  I  decided  for  war." 

With  the  utmost  secrecy  he  matured  his  plans,  gathered 
his  army  near  the  frontier,  and  then,  after  some  slight 
diplomatic  manoeuvring,  but  without  any  declaration  of 
war,  rushed  his  troops  across  the  border,  and  commenced 
taldng  military  possession  of  all  the  important  posts.  It 
was  proposed  that  he  should  place  upon  the  banners  the 
words,  "  For  God  and  our  Country."  "  Strike  out  the 
words,  '  For  God^'  "  said  the  king  :  "  I  am  marcliing  to 
gain  a  province,  not  for  religion." 

That  Austria  might  not  send  troops  to  the  rescue  of 
her  invaded  province,  Frederick  commenced  his  cam- 
paign in  mid-winter.  The  roads  were  miry  :  storms  of 
sleet  swept  the  bleak  plains:  there ^ was  scarcely  any 
enemy  to  be  encountered.  In  the  course  of  a  few  weeks, 
the  whole  country  seemed  subjugated.  Frederick  left 
Berhn  for  this  campaign  on  the  12th  of  December,  1740. 
The  latter  part  of  January,  he  returned  to  receive  the 
congratulations  of  his  subjects  upon  the  conquest  of 
Silesia.  In  six  weeks  he  had  overrun  the  province,  and 
vh-tually  annexed  it  to  his  realms. 

But  Maria  Theresa  developed  character  which  alike 
surprised  Frederick  and  all  Europe.  The  chivalric 
spirit  of  the  surrounding  monarchies  was  enlisted  in 
behalf  of  a  young  queen  thus  unjustly  assailed,  and 
despoiled  of  an  important  province  of  her  realms.     The 


REIGN   OF  FREDERICK  II.  35 

preparations  wliicli  IMaria  Theresa  made  to  regain  her 
lost  possessions  induged  Frederick  to  send  an  arm}-  of 
sixty  thousand  men  into  Silesia  to  hold  firmly  his  con- 
quest. A  terrible  war  was  the  consequence,  — a  war  in 
which  nearly  all  the  nations  of  Europe  became  involved, 
and  Avhich  extended  even  to  the  distant  colonial  posses- 
sions of  England  and  France.  Milhons  of  money  weie 
expended,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives  sacrificed, 
cities  sacked,  and  villages  burned  ;  while  an  amount  of 
misery  was  spread  through  countless  homes  which  no 
imagination  can  gauge. 

Year  after  year  rolled  on,  while  the  strife  was  con- 
tinuing in  ever-increasing  fury.  France,  wishing  to 
weaken  Austria,  joined  Frederick  ;  England,  jealous  of 
France,  joined  Maria  Theresa;  Prussia,  Sweden,  and 
Poland  were  drawn  into  the  maelstrom  of  fire  and 
blood.  The  energy  displayed  by  Frederick  was  such  as 
the  world  had  never  before  witnessed :  he  was  alike  re- 
gardless of  his  own  comfort  and  that  of  his  soldiers. 
His  troops  were  goaded  forward,  alike  over  the  burning 
plains,  beneath  the  Ijlaze  of  a  summer's  sun,  and 
through  winter's  storms  and  drifts  and  freezing  gales. 

"  On  the  head  of  Frederick,"  writes  Macaulay,  "  is  all 
the  blood  which  was  shed  in  a  war  which  raged  during 
many  years  and  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  —  the 
1)lood  of  the  column  of  Fontenoy,  the  blood  of  the  brave 
mountaineers  who  were  slaughtered  at  CuUoden.  The 
evils  produced  by  this  wicivcdncss  were  felt  in  lands 
v/here  the  name  of  Frederick  was  unknown.  In  order 
that  he  might  rob  a  neighbor  whom  he  had  promised  to 
defend,  black  men  fought  on  the  coast  of  Coromandel, 
and  red  men  scalped  each  other  l)y  the  Great  Lakes  of 
North  America." 


36  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

Frederick  was  equally  versed  in  diplomacy  and  in 
war.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  resort  to  any  measures  of 
intrigue,  or  of  what  would  usually  be  called  treachery, 
to  accomplish  his  ends.  Several  of  the  victories  which 
he  gained  gave  him  world-wide  renown.  By  a  secret 
treaty,  in  Avhich  he  perfidiously  abandoned  his  French 
alhes,  he  obtained  possession  of  the  Fortress  of  Neisse, 
and  thus  became,  for  a  time,  undisputed  master  of  Si- 
lesia. 

On  the  11th  of  November,  1741,  Frederick  returned 
to  Berlin,  congratulating  himself  and  his  subjects  with 
the  delusion,  that  his  conquest  was  established,  and  that 
there  would  be  no  further  efforts  on  the  part  of  Austria 
to  regain  the  province.  He  was  thus  secure,  as  ho  sup- 
posed, in  the  possession  of  Silesia. 

There  seems  to  have  been  no  sense  of  honor  or  of 
honesty  in  any  of  these  regal  courts.  The  province  of 
Moravia  was  a  part  of  the  Austrian  kingdom  :  it  was 
governed  by  a  marquis,  and  was  about  one-third  larger 
than  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  Frederick  entered 
into  an  alliance  with  Saxony,  Bavaria,  and  France,  to 
wrest  that  territory  from  Maria  Theresa.  Moravia, 
which  bounded  Silesia  on  the  south,  was  to  be  annexed, 
in  general,  to  Saxony ;  but  Frederick,  in  consideration 
of  liis  services,  was  to  receive  a  strip  five  miles  in  width 
along  the  whole  southern  frontier  of  Silesia.  This  strip 
contained  the  important  miUtary  posts  of  Troppau, 
Friedenthal,  and  Olmutz.  Again  the  storms  of  Avar 
burst  forth  with  renewed  fury;  again  Frederick  dis- 
played that  extraordinary  energy  which  has  filled  the 
world  with  his  renoAvn. 

In  the  midst  of  winter,  on  the  26th  of  January,  1742, 
Frederick  set  out  upon  this  campaign.    Speaking  of  the 


REIGN  OF  FREDERICK  II.  37 

first  day's  movement  from  Glatz  to  Landscrona,  Gen. 
Stille  says,  — 

"  It  was  such  a  marcli  as  I  never  before  witnessed. 
Through  the  ice  and  through  the  snow  which  covered 
that  dreadful  chain  of  mountains,  we  did  not  arrive  till 
very  late :  many  of  our  carriages  were  broken  down, 
and  others  were  overturned  more  than  once." 

By  the  skilful  diplomacy  of  Frederick,  aided  by 
France,  Maria  Theresa  was  thwarted  in  her  efforts  to 
place  her  husband,  Duke  Francis,  on  the  throne  of  the 
empire ;  and  Charles  Albert,  King  of  Bavaria,  was 
chosen  emperor.  This  was  regarded  as  a  great  triumph 
on  the  part  of  Frederick.  Charles  Albert,  whose  life 
fi'om  the  cradle  to  the  grave  was  a  constant  tragedy, 
took  the  title  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VII. 

Frederick,  in  the  intensity  of  his  earnestness,  was 
greatly  annoyed  by  the  lukewarmness  of  his  allies.  He 
was  not  disposed  to  allow  any  considerations  of  humani- 
ty to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  plans.  Regardless  of  his 
own  comfort,  he  was  equally  regardless  of  that  of  his 
troops.  But  the  alHes,  whom  he  had  with  some  difficulty 
drawn  into  the  war,  and  who  were  not  goaded  on  by  his 
ambition,  had  no  taste  for  campaigning  through  blinding; 
smotlicring  snow-storms,  and  bivouacking  on  fi-ozen 
plains  swept  by  wintry  gales. 

At  last,  Frederick,  in  disgust,  withdrew  from  his  allies, 
and  with  marvellous  sagacity  and  determination,  though 
at  an  awful  expense  of  suffering  and  death  on  the  part 
of  his  troops,  conducted  the  campaign  to  suit  his  own 
purposes,  and  in  accordance  with  his  own  views.  An 
incessant  series  of  bloody  battles  ensued.  Cities  were 
bombarded,  villages  laid  in  ashes,  and  whole  piovincea 


38  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA, 

devastated  and  almost  depopulated.  Frederick  was 
again  triumphant. 

On  the  11th  of  June,  1742,  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
signed  at  Breslau.  Again  his  conquest  was  assured  to 
him :  Silesia  was  ceded  to  Frederick  an,fl  his  heirs  for- 
evermore.  Elate  with  victory,  the  young  conqueror 
cantoned  his  troops  in  Silesia,  and,  with  a  magnificent 
suite,  galloped  to  Berlin,  greeted  all  along  the  road  by 
the  enthusiastic  acclaim  of  the  people. 

In  the  following  terms,  Frederick,  in  his  "  Histoire 
de  mon  Temps,"  narrates  the  results  of  these  two  cam- 
paigns :  — 

"  Thus  was  Silesia  re-united  to  the  dominions  of 
Prussia.  Two  years  of  war  sufficed  for  the  conquest  of 
this  important  province.  The  treasure  which  the  late 
king  had  left  was  nearly  exhausted.  But  it  is  a  cheap 
purchase  where  whole  provinces  are  bought  for  seven  or 
eight  millions  of  crowns.  The  union  of  circumstances 
at  the  moment  peculiarly  favored  this  enterprise.  It 
was  necessary  for  it  that  France  should  allow  itself  to 
be  drawn  into  the  war ;  that  Russia  should  be  attacked 
by  Sweden ;  that  from  timidity  the  Hanoverians  and 
Saxons  should  remain  inactive ;  that  the  successes  of 
the  Prussians  should  be  uninterrupted;  and  that  the 
King  of  England  should  become,  in  spite  of  himself,  the 
instrument  of  its  aggrandizement. 

"  What,  however,  contributed  most  to  this  conquest 
was  an  army,  which  had  been  formed  for  twenty-two 
years  by  means  of  a  discipline  admirable  in  itself,  and 
superior  to  the  troops  of  the  rest  of  Europe  ;  generals 
who  were  true  patriots ;  wise  and  incorruptible  min- 
isters ;  and,  finally,  a  certain  good  fortune  which  often 


EEIGN  OF  FREDERICK   II.  39 

accompanies  youth,  and  often  deserts  a  more  advanced 
ago."' 

Maria  Theresa  regarded  the  loss  of  Silesia  as  the  act 
of  a  highway  robber.  She  never  ceased  to  deplore  the 
calamity.  If  the  word  "  Silesia  "  were  spoken  in  her 
presence,  her  eyes  would  be  immediately  flooded  with 
tears. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE   SEVEN-YEARS     WAR. 


FREDERICK,  having  obtained  Silesia,  felt  now 
^  disposed  to  cultivate  the  arts  of  peace.  He 
\3  had  withdrawn  from  his  allies,  and  entered 
into  externally  friendly  relations  with  Austria. 
But  still  the  storms  of  war  were  raging  over 
nearly  the  whole  of  Europe.  Though  Fred- 
erick had  dexterously  escaped  from  the  tem- 
pest with  the  spoil  he  had  seized,  other  nations  were  still 
involved  in  the  turmoil. 

Maria  Theresa  became  signally  victorious  over  France. 
Austrian  generals  had  arisen  who  were  developing  great 
military  ability.  Bohemia  and  Bavaria  were  recon- 
quered by  Austria  ;  and  the  emperor,  Charles  VI.,  deso- 
late, sad,  and  pain-stricken,  was  driven  from  his  realms. 
Encouraged  by  these  successes,  Maria  Theresa  was 
quietly  preparing  to  win  back  Silesia. 

Thus  influenced,  Frederick,  in  the  spring  of  1744, 
entered  into  a  new  alliance  with  France  and  the  emper- 
or. With  characteristic  foresight,  he  had  kept  his  army 
in  the  highest  state  of  discipline ;  and  his  magazines 
were  abundantly  stored  with  all  the  materials  of  war. 
Having  arranged  with  his  allies  that  he  was  to  receive, 
as  his  share  of  the  spoils  of  the  anticipated  victory,  the 
tluee  important  Bohemian  principalities  of  Koniggratz, 

40 


THE   SEVEN-YEARS'    WAR.  41 

Buntzlau,  and  Leitmcritz,  he  issued  a  manifesto,  saying, 
with  unblushing  falsehood,  — 

"  Ilis  Prussian  majesty  requires  nothing  for  himself: 
he  has  taken  up  arms  simply  to  restore  to  the  emperor 
his  imperial  crown,  and  to  Europe  peace." 

In  three  strong  military  columns  the  king  entered 
Bohemia,  and  on  the  4th  of  September,  having  thus  far 
encountered  no  opposition,  invested  Prague.  The  cam- 
paign proved  to  be  the  most  sanguinary  and  woful  he 
had  yet  experienced.  The  sweep  of  maddened  armies 
spread  desolation  and  misery  over  all  Bohemia.  Starv- 
ing soldiers  snatched  the  bread  from  the  mouths  of 
starving  women  and  children.  Houseless  families  froze 
hi  the  fields.  In  the  dead  of  winter,  Frederick  was 
compelled  to  retire  to  Silesia  in  one  of  the  most  dis- 
astrous retreats  recorded  in  the  annals  of  war. 

Cantoning  his  shattered  army  in  the  Silesian  villages, 
ho  returned  to  Berlin  to  prepare  for  a  new  campaign. 
His  pecuniary  resources  were  exhausted,  his  army  dread- 
fully weakened,  and  his  materiel  of  war  impaired  or  con- 
sumed. 

It  was  in  such  hours  of  difBculty  that  the  genius  of 
Frederick  was  developed.  The  victorious  Austrians 
had  pursued  his  troops  into  Silesia.  The  unhappy 
emperor  died  in  poverty  and  pain.  France  alone  re- 
mained an  ally  to  Frederick.  His  situation  seemed 
almost  hopeless.  On  the  29th  of  March,  1745,  he 
A\i()(e  from  Neisse  to  his  minister,  Podewils,  at  P)cr- 
lin, — 

"  We  find  ourselves  in  a  great  crisis.  If  we  do  not, 
by  mediation  of  England,  get  peace,  our  enemies  from 
(lifff^rcnt  sid(!S  will  come  plungiiig  in  against  me.  Peace 
1  cannot  force  them  to;  but,  if  we  must  have  war,  wo 


42  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

will  either  beat  tliem,  or  none  of  us  will  ever  see  Berlin 
again." 

On  the  20tli  of  April  he  again  wrote,  "  If  we  needs 
must  fight,  we  will  do  it  like  men  driven  desperate. 
Never  was  there  a  greater  peril  than  that  I  am  now  in. 
The  game  I  play  is  so  high,  one  cannot  contemplate  the 
issue  in  cold  blood." 

Another  desolating  campaign,  with  its  series  of  san- 
guinary battles,  ensued.  At  Hohen-Friedberg  and  at 
Sohr,  Frederic  gained  great  victories,  though  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  terrible  slaughter  of  his  own  and  of  the 
Austrian  troops.  Dreadful  as  were  the  blows  he  in- 
flicted upon  others,  he  received  blows  almost  equally 
terrible  himself.  At  length,  once  more  a  victor,  having 
captured  Dresden,  the  capital  of  Saxon}^,  he  again 
sheathed  his  dripping  sword,  and  concluded  a  peace. 
In  his  comments  upon  this  war,  Frederick  writes,  — 

"  Considering,  therefore,  things  at  their  true  value,  we 
are  obliged  to  acknowledge  that  this  contest  was  in  every 
respect  only  useless  effusion  of  blood,  and  that  the  con- 
tinued victories  of  the  Prussians  only  helped  to  confirm 
to  them  the  possession  of  Silesia.  Indeed,  if  considera- 
tion and  reputation  in  arms  meant  that  efforts  should 
be  made  to  obtain  them,  undoubtedly  Prussia,  by  gaining 
them,  was  recompensed  for  having  undertaken  the  war. 
But  this  was  all  she  gained  for  it ;  and  even  this  imagi- 
nary advantage  excited  feehngs  of  envy  against  her."  ^ 

Frederick  returned  to  his  capital  on  the  1st  of  January, 
1746.  Prussia  now  enjoyed  a  few  years  of  repor.e.  The 
king,  with  energies  which  never  tired,  devoted  himself 
to  the  development  of  the  resources  of  his  realms,  and, 

^  Histoire  de  mon  Temps 


THE   SEVEX-YEARS'    WAR,  43 

like  Csesar,  to  writing  the  history  of  his  own  great 
achievements.  In  a  letter  to  Voltaire  upon  this  subject, 
he  writes  modestly,  — 

" '  The  History  of  my  Own  Time,'  which  at  present 
occupies  me,  is  not  in  the  way  of  memoirs  or  commenta- 
ries. My  own  history  hardly  enters  into  my  plan  ;  for  I 
consider  it  a  folly  in  any  one  to  think  himself  sufficiently 
remarkable  to  render  it  necessary  that  the  whole  uni- 
verse should  be  informed  of  the  details  relating  to  him, 
I  describe  generally  the  disturbed  state  of  Europe  ;  and  I 
have  particularly  endeavored  to  expose  the  folly  and  the 
contradictions  which  may  be  remarked  in  those  who 
govern  it,"  ^ 

The  impulse  which  Frederick  gave  to  industry  was 
very  great ;  and  the  reforms  which  were  introduced  into 
the  laws  b}^  the  Code  Frederick  were  worthy  of  all  praise, 
when  compared  with  the  semi-barbaric  and  confused 
system  which  had  before  existed.  During  this  time, 
Frederick  became  involved  in  a  bitter  quarrel  with  Vol- 
taire, into  the  details  of  which  Ave  have  no  space  here  to 
enter.  But  again  the  clouds  of  war  began  to  gather, 
and  darken  the  horizon. 

Maria  Theresa,  ever  anxious  to  regain  Silesia,  entered, 
with  that  object  in  view,  into  a  secret  alliance  with 
Elizabeth,  Empress  of  Russia,  and  with  Augustus  III. 
of  Poland.  Both  EUzabeth  and  Maria  Theresa  enter- 
tained a  very  strong  personal  dislike  for  Frederick,  The 
Marchioness  of  Pompadour,  who  ruled  France,  had  con- 
sidered herself  insulted  by  the  sarcasms  of  his  Piussiau 
majesty.  Anxious  for  revenge,  she  also  joined  the  alli- 
ance.    It  so  chanced,  at  that  time,  that  three  women 

'  Letter  to  Voltaire  of  tho  24th  of  April,  1747, 


44  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

ruled  Continental  Europe.  These  three  women  were 
arrayed  against  Frederick.  Thus,  in  addition  to  the  im- 
portant diplomatic  issues  which  were  involved,  personal 
pique  envenomed  the  conflict.  Tliere  were  also  many 
rumors  that  Frederick  was  contemplating  additional 
conquests.  Frederick,  by  bribery,  became  acquainted 
with  the  plan  of  the  coalition.  It  was  nothing  less  than 
taking  possession  of  Prussia,  and  essentially  dividing  it 
between  them  ;  leaving  to  their  vanquished  foe,  perhaps, 
a  small  duchy  or  marquisate.  The  king  resolved  to  an- 
ticipate his  foes,  and  to  strike  them  before  they  had 
begun  to  move.  France  was  at  that  time  at  war  with 
England,  and  hoped  to  take  Hanover.  This  led  the 
JBritish  court,  trembling  for  its  Continental  possession,  to 
enter  into  a  reluctant  and  inefiicient  alliance  with  Prussia. 
Thus  commenced  the  Seven -Years'  War. 

France  had  already  assembled  an  immense  force  on 
the  Rhine  to  march  upon  Prussia  from  the  west.  The 
Swedes,  who  had  been  drawn  into  the  alliance,  and  the 
Russians,  were  marshalling  their  forces  in  Pomerania  and 
Livonia  for  an  attack  from  the  north.  Austria  had 
gathered  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  on  the 
frontiers  of  Silesia  to  invade  Prussia  from  the  south. 
Prussia  seemed  now  doomed  to  destruction. 

Frederick,  having  demanded,  as  a  matter  of  form,  the 
object  of  these  military  demonstrations,  and  receiving 
an  evasive  answer,  informed  the  court  of  Vienna  that 
he  considered  their  answer  a  declaration  of  war.  Im- 
mediately,  three  divisions  of  the  Prussian  army,  amount- 
ing in  all  to  over  a  hundred  thousand  men,  entcj'ed 
Saxony,  and  were  soon  united  near  Dresden.  Dresden 
was  easily  captured ;  and  its  archives  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  victor.  Immense  sums  of  money  were  levied 
from  the  people. 


THE    SEVEN-YEARS'    WAR.  45 

Austria  rushed  to  the  aid  of  Saxony.  The  utmost 
liuman  energy  was  expended  in  the  mortal  struggle. 
The  reader  would  weary  at  the  recital  of  the  names 
even  of  the  battle-fields.  Dispersing  his  foes,  though  at 
a  vast  expense  of  misery  and  blood  on  the  part  of  his 
own  troops,  the  Prussian  monarch  rushed  into  Bohemia, 
and  fell  fiercely  upon  the  Austrian  troops  intrenclied 
outside  of  the  walls  of  Prague.  The  renowned  battle 
of  Prague,  which,  says  Carlyle,  "  sounded  througli  all  the 
A\-orld,  and  used  to  deafen  us  in  drawing-rooms  within 
man's  memory,"  was  fought  on  the  otli  of  May,  1757. 

"  This  battle,"  writes  Frederick,  "  which  began  to- 
wards nine  in  the  morning,  and  lasted  till  eight  at  night, 
was  one  of  the  bloodiest  of  the  age.  The  enemy  lost 
twenty-four  thousand  men.  The  Prussian  loss  amounted 
to  eighteen  thousand.  This  day  saw  the  pillars  of  the 
Prussian  infantry  cut  clown." 

The  routed  Austrians  fled  for  shelter  behind  the  walls 
of  Prague.  The  city,  which  contained  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  was  quite  unprepared  for  a  siege. 
The  garrison,  daily  expecthig  an  Austrian  army  to  march 
to  its  relief,  held  out  with  great  firmness.  The  scene 
of  misery  witnessed  in  Prague  was  awful.  An  incessant 
storm  of  shot  and  shell  fell  upon  the  crowded  dwellings. 
Confl.igrations  were  continually  bursting  forth.  There 
was  no  safety  anywhere.  Famine  came  ;  pestilence  fol- 
lowed. DcuKJiis  could  not  have  inflicted  more  misery 
than  the  wretched  inhabitants  of  Prague  endured. 

At  length  the  banners  of  INIarshal  Daun  appeared, 
waving  over  sixty  thousand  Austrians.  The  antagonists 
met,  and  fought  with  the  utmost  ieToe'itj.  The  slaugh- 
ter on  both  sides  was  awful.  Frederick,  almost  frantic 
with  grief,  saw  his  battalions  meltuig  away  before  tho 


46  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

batteries  of  the  foe.  Six  times  his  cavalry  charged; 
six  times  they  were  repulsed.  Frederick  was  beaten. 
Sullenly  he  Avithdrew,  leaving  fourteen  thousand  behind 
him  slain,  or  prisoners.  With  but  twenty-five  thousand 
men,  their  ranks  shattered  and  bleeding,  and  their  hearts 
despondent,  Frederick  retreated  to  the  Fortress  of  Bres- 
lau  in  Silesia.  An  allied  force  of  ninety  thousand  Aus- 
trians  and  French  pursued  them.  Soon  another  terrific 
battle  ensued.  The  Prussians,  having  lost  eight  thou- 
sand more  men,  were  driven  from  Breslau. 

It  was  now  mid-winter.  The  allies  supposed  that 
Frederick  was  ruined.  The  Austrians  spoke  of  his  shat- 
tered bands  with  ridicule  and  contempt.  Marvellous  are 
the  vicissitudes  of  war.  On  the  4th  of  December,  1757, 
the  antaGfonistic  hosts  ao^ain  met  on  the  Plains  of  Lissa. 
Frederick  had  thirty  thousand  men  ;  the  allies,  ninety 
thousand.  The  battle  was  short  and  decisive  :  it  lasted 
only  from  the  hour  of  noon  to  the  going-down  of  the  sun. 

The  Austrians  were  thoroughly  routed.  Seven  thou- 
sand of  their  slain  were  strewed  over  the  blood-stained 
snow.  Twenty  thousand  were  made  prisoners.  All 
their  baggage,  their  military  chest,  one  hundred  and 
thirty-four  pieces  of  cannon,  and  fifty-nine  standards, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors.  The  Prussians  paid 
for  this  victory  five  thousand  lives. 

Frederick,  with  triumphant  banners,  marched  upon 
Breslau.  The  city  capitulated,  surrendering  its  whole 
garrison  of  eighteen  thousand  men  and  its  supplies. 
The  victor  then  turned  upon  the  approaching  Russians, 
and  drove  them  out  of  the  kingdom.  He  then  advanced 
upon  the  Swedes  :  they  fled  precipitately  to  take  shelter 
behind  the  walls  of  Stralsund.  Thus  terminated  the 
campaign  of  1757. 


THE   SEVEN-YEARS'    WAR.  47 

During  the  winter,  both  parties  were  recruiting  their 
strength  for  the  renewal  of  the  fight.  The  returning 
sun  of  spring  opened  new  woes  for  war-stricken  Europe. 
The  summer  was  passed  in  a  series  of  incessant  bat- 
tles, sweeping  over  nearly  the  whole  of  Germany.  In 
tlio  battle  of  Hochkirchen,  on  the  14th  of  October, 
Frederick,  in  his  turn,  encountered  a  wof ul  defeat.  He 
retreated,  leaving  behind  him  nine  thousand  slain  or 
prisoners,  and  a  hundred  and  one  guns.  Nothing  deci- 
sive was  accomplished  by  the  enormous  expenditure  of 
treasure,  and  the  carnage  and  woe  of  this  campaign. 
Thus  ended  the  third  year  of  this  cruel  and  wasting 
war. 

The  spring  of  1759  came.  Maria  Theresa  was  elated 
by  her  victories  at  the  close  of  the  last  campaign.  The 
allies  redoubled  their  efforts.  Catholic  Germany  gener- 
ally rallied  with  religious  zeal  against  heretical  Prussia 
and  England.  England,  a  maritime  nation,  could  afford 
Frederick  but  little  assistance,  save  in  money.  Ilcr 
gifts  in  that  respect  were  small,  amounting  to  but  little 
over  three  millions  of  dollars  a  year.  Indeed,  England 
did  but  little,  save  to  protect  her  own  province  of 
Hanover. 

The  armies  of  France,  Austria,  Poland,  Sweden,  and 
Russia,  were  now  marching  upon  depopulated  and  impov- 
erished Prussia.  The  allies  represented  a  population  of 
over  a  hundred  millions.  The  population  of  Prussia 
was  less  than  five  millions.  Thus  Frederick  had  against 
him  about  twenty  to  one.  With  incredible  exertions, 
the  king  had  raised  forty  thousand  troops.  Early  in 
June,  he  met  eighty  thousand  of  the  allies  near  Frank- 
fort on  the  Oder.  Both  parties  Avere  vanquished  :  first 
the  allieij  m  awful  slaughter ;  then,  by  a  sudden  and  an- 


48  HISTORY   OF  PEUSSIA. 

expected  turn  in  tlie  tide  of  battle,  the  Prussians  were 
overwhelmed. 

Frederick,  in  the  moment  of  supposed  success,  sent 
the  following  despatch  to  Berlin:  "We  have  driven 
the  enemy  from  his  intrenchments.  In  two  hours,  ex- 
pect to  hear  of  a  glorious  victory." 

The  two  hours  of  battle's  hideous  and  hateful  clamor 
passed  away  ;  and  another  courier  was  despatched  with 
the  appalling  message,  "  Remove  from  Berlin  with  the 
royal  family.  Let  the  archives  be  carried  to  Potsdam, 
and  the  capital  make  conditions  with  the  enemy." 

Twenty-four  thousand  of  the  allies,  and  twenty  thou- 
sand Prussians,  fell  on  that  bloody  day.  Two  horses 
were  shot  beneath  Frederick ;  and  his  clothes  were 
pierced  with  many  balls.  In  the  darkness  of  the  night, 
he  retreated  with  the  remnant  of  his  troops.  The  allies 
had  sujffered  so  severely,  that  they  did  not  attempt  to 
pursue. 

Disaster  never  disheartened  Frederick  :  it  only 
aroused  anew  his  energies.  With  amazing  vigor  he  ral- 
lied his  scattered  forces,  dismantled  distant  fortresses, 
and  brought  their  cannon  into  the  field,  and  in  a  few 
days  was  at  the  head  of  twenty-eight  thousand  men  to 
dispute  the  advance  of  the  foe  upon  Berlin.  Week  af- 
ter week,  the  thunders  of  war  continued  to  echo  over 
this  wretched  land.  Winter  came.  The  soldiers,  on 
both  sides,  suffering  more  from  famine,  frost,  and  sick- 
ness, than  from  the  bullets  of  the  foe,  could  no  longer 
remain  in  the  open  field.  In  the  Austrian  army,  four 
thousand  died  in  sixteen  days  from  the  inclemency  of 
the  weather.  Thus  terminated  the  campaign  of  1759, 
the  fourth  year  of  this  desperate  conflict. 

The  sx3riug  of  17G0  found  both  parties  equally  eager 


THE    SEVEN-YEARS'   WAR.  49 

for  the  renewal  of  the  war.  Maria  Theresa  was  elate 
with  hope.  Frederick  was  inspired  by  despair:  the  vet- 
eran army  of  the  Prussians  was  almost  annihilated. 
The  Prussian  king  had  filled  his  broken  ranks  with 
peasants  and  boys,  and  any  raw  recruits  whom  he  could 
force  into  the  ranks  by  the  energies  of  absolute  power. 
With  his  utmost  efforts,  he  could  muster  but  seventy- 
five  thousand  men  ;  and  these,  to  use  his  own  language, 
"  were  half  peasants,  half  deserters  from  the  enemy,  — 
soldiers  no  longer  fit  for  service,  but  only  for  show." 
The  "  deserters  "  were  prisoners  of  war,  whom  Freder- 
ick had  compelled  to  enlist  under  his  banners. 

The  allies  were  marching  upon  him  with  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  men.  Against  such  unequal 
numbers,  Frederick  fought  with  energy  and  skill  which 
filled  Europe  with  wonder.  Villages  were  burned ; 
harvests  were  trampled  under  foot ;  fields  were  crim- 
soned with  gore ;  widows  and  orphans  starved  on  the 
dreary  plains ;  and  still  there  were  no  decisive  results. 
On  the  whole,  the  campaign  was  in  Frederick's  favor. 
To  the  surprise  of  all,  he  had  succeeded  in  thwarting 
the  endeavors  of  the  allies  to  crush  him.  Again  the 
combatants  retired  to  winter-quarters  ;  and  the  fifth  year 
of  the  war  was  ended. 

Frederick,  in  his  correspondence  with  his  friends,  con- 
fessed that  his  prospects  were  hopeless.  He,  however, 
resolved  to  struggle  to  the  last,  and  to  l)ury  himself  be- 
neatli  the  ruins  of  his  kingdom.  Having  rejected 
Christianit}^,  and  having  none  of  the  consolations  of 
religion  to  sustain  liim,  he  carried  constantly  with  him 
a  phial  of  poison,  that,  as  a  last  resort,  he  might  commit 
suicide. 

The  sixtli  campaign,  that  of  17G1,  proved  uneventful. 


50  HISTORY    OF  PllUSSIA. 

Frederick  fortified  himself  with  so  much  skill  at  Kiiners- 
dorf,  that  the  allies  did  not  venture  to  attack  him. 
They  surrounded  him  in  large  numbers,  as  hounds  sur- 
round a  tiger  at  bay.  There  were  many  bloody  skir- 
mishes and  sieges :  large  regions  were  devastated,  and 
thousands  perished  in  their  misery.  Frederick  encoun- 
tered severe  reverses,  and  was,  apparently,  every  month 
approaching  nearer  to  his  end.  Despairing,  yet  reso- 
lute, when  the  storms  of  winter  drove  the  allies  from 
the  field,  the  Prussians  sought  refuge  in  a  camp  near 
Leipsic.     The  sixth  year  of  blood  and  woe  had  ended. 

Frederick  could  no  longer  conceal  his  despondency. 
The  English  withdrew  their  subsidy :  the  Prussians  de- 
clared that  they  could  struggle  no  longer  against  such 
fearful  odds.  The  allies  were  elated :  it  seemed  mani- 
fest that  one  campaign  more  would  finish  their  work, 
and  that  Prussia  would  He  helpless  at  their  feet.  In 
this  dark  hour,  in  a  day  as  it  were,  the  whole  prospect 
became  changed. 

One  individual  chanced  to  be  taken  sick  and  die  : 
that  individual  was  Elizabeth,  the  Empress  of  Russia. 
She  died  on  the  5th  of  January,  1762.  Her  death 
changed  the  fate  of  Europe.  Peter  III.,  who  succeeded 
Ehzabeth,  hated  Maria  Theresa,  and  admired  Frederick. 
He  ordered  his  troops  immediately  to  withdraw  from  the 
alHance,  and  sent  them  to  the  aid  of  Frederick.  The 
Swedish  court  was  so  alhed  with  that  of  Russia,  that 
their  troops  also  withdrew.  Peter  III.  even  sohcited  a 
position  for  himself  in  the  Prussian  army. 

The  change  was  as  sudden  as  that  caused  by  a  turn 
in  the  kaleidoscope.  Again  there  was  a  transient  re- 
verse. Peter  HI.  was  assassinated.  His  wife,  the  world- 
renowned  Catharine  II.,  ascended  the  throne :  she  dis- 


THE   SEVEX-YEARS'   WAR.  51 

solved  the  Prussian  alliance,  and  ordered  her  troops  to 
return  to  Russia.  In  the  mean  time,  Frederick  had 
roused  the  Turks  against  Austria.  Before  the  Russians 
had  left  his  camp,  he  attacked  the  Austrians  with  his 
accustomed  impetuosity,  and  they  were  routed  with 
great  loss.  Maria  Theresa  was  now  in  dismay  :  her 
allies  Avere  leaving  her  ;  her  treasury  was  exhausted. 
The  Turks,  sweeping  all  opposition  before  them,  were 
ascending  the  Danube :  Frederick,  victorious,  was  en- 
riching himself  with  the  spoils  of  Saxony  and  Bohemia. 
On  the  1.3th  of  February,  1763,  peace  was  concluded. 
Frederick  retained  Silesia. 

According  to  Frederick's  computation,  the  conquest 
of  the  province  had  cost  the  lives  of  six  hundred  and 
seventy  thousand  of  the  allies,  and  one  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  Prussians  who  had  perished  on  the  field 
of  battle.  The  treasure  expended  and  wasted  in  the 
desolations  of  war  can  never  be  estimated  ;  neither  can 
there  be  any  accurate  estimate  of  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  men,  women,  and  children,  who  had  perished 
of  exposure,  famine,  pestilence,  and  misery.  The  popu- 
lation of  Prussia  had  diminished  five  hundred  thousand 
during  the  Seven -Years'  War. 

The  day  after  the  treaty  of  peace  was  signed,  Freder- 
ick wrote  to  his  friend  D'Argens,  "  For  me,  poor  old 
man  that  I  am,  I  return  to  a  town  where  I  know  noth- 
ing but  the  walls ;  where  I  find  no  longer  any  of  my 
friends ;  where  great  and  laborious  duties  await  me  ; 
and  where  I  shall  soon  lay  my  old  bones  in  an  asylum 
which  can  neither  be  troubled  by  war,  by  calamities, 
nor  by  the  wickedness  of  men." 

Under  the  energetic  and  sagacious  administration  of 
Frederick,  Prussia  rapidly  recovered  from  its  ruinous 


52  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

condition.  "  To  form  an  idea,"  he  writes,  "  of  the  gen- 
eral subversion,  and  how  great  were  the  desolation  and 
discouragement,  you  must  represent  to  yourself  coun- 
tries entirely  ravaged,  the  very  traces  of  the  old  habita- 
tions hardly  discoverable :  of  the  towns,  some  were  ruined 
from  top  to  bottom,  others  half  destroyed  by  fire.  Of 
thirteen  thousand  houses,  the  very  vestiges  were  gone  ; 
there  was  no  field  in  seed,  no  grain  for  the  food  of  the 
inhabitants  ;  noble  and  peasant  had  been  pillaged,  ran- 
somed, foraged,  eaten  out  by  so  many  different  armies, 
that  nothing  was  now  left  them  but  life  and  miserable 
rags." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE     PARTITION      OF     POLAND,      AND     THE     INVASION      OF 

FRANCE. 

OTWITHSTANDING  the  acquisitions  which 
Frederick  had  made  to  his  domains,  Prussia 
was  still  but  a  feeble  kingdom,  compared 
with  the  great  monarchies  of  Austria,  France, 
and  Russia.  To  place  Prussia  upon  any 
thing  like  an  equality  with  these  first-class 
powers,  it  was  necessary  for  his  Prussian 
majesty  still  more  to  enlarge  his  realms. 

The  kingdom  of  Poland  occupied  a  territory  of  two 
hundred  and  eighty-four  thousand  square  miles.  It 
contained  a  population  of  twenty  millions.  Poland  was 
surrounded  by  Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia.  It  is  not 
certain  with  whom  the  idea  originated,  of  dismembering 
this  kingdom,  —  whether  with  the  Russian  empress,  or 
with  Frederick.  The  king  was  chosen  by  the  nobles. 
Upon  the  death  of  Augustus,  King  of  Poland,  on  the  5th 
of  October,  17Go,  Catharine,  by  bribery,  succeeded  in 
placing  upon  the  throne  a  handsome  young  Pole,  Stanis- 
laus Poniatowski,  who  had  for  some  time  been  a  very 
special  favorite  at  her  court.  He  was  crowned  King  of 
Poland  on  the  7th  of  September,  1764. 

Two  or  three  years  passed  away  of  wars  and  insur- 
rections, and  all  the  usual  tumult  and  woe  wliich  have 

68 


54  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

characterized  the  progress  of  the  nations.  There  were 
some  secret  interviews  between  the  courts  of  Russia, 
Prussia,  and  Austria,  in  which  it  is  supposed  that  the 
question  of  the  dismemberment  of  Poland  was  agitated. 
Frederick,  however,  informs  us  that  he  at  length  sent 
to  Catharine  a  sketch  of  a  plan  for  partitioning  several 
provinces  in  Poland ;  "  to  Which,"  he  says,  "  the  court 
at  Petersburg,  intoxicated  with  its  own  outlooks  on 
Turkey,  paid  not  the  least  attention."  ^ 

Joseph,  the  son  of  Maria  Theresa,  had  become  em- 
peror, through  the  agency  of  his  mother,  after  the  death 
of  his  father,  the  Emperor  Francis.  On  the  25th  of 
August,  1769,  he  visited  Frederick,  at  Neisse.  Under 
cloak  of  the  festivities,  the  all-important  question  was 
discussed,  of  the  partition  of  Poland,  which  was  then 
in  such  a  state  of  anarchy  as  to  render  any  attempt  at 
resistance  hopeless.  Another  interview  took  place  be- 
tween the  King  of  Prussia  and  the  emperor,  on  the  3d 
of  September,  1770,  at  Neustadt,  near  Austerlitz. 

Not  long  after  this  interview,  Frederick  drew  up  a 
new  plan  of  partition,  which  he  presented  to  Russia 
and  Austria.  By  this  plan,  which  was  adopted,  Russia 
took  eighty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  square  miles. 
Austria  received  sixty-two  thousand  five  himdred.  The 
share  which  was  allotted  to  Prussia  was  but  nine  thou- 
sand four  hundi'ed  and  sixty-four  square  miles.  Small, 
in  respect  to  territory,  as  was  Prussia's  share,  it  was  re- 
garded, in  consequence  of  its  position  and  the  character 
of  the  region,  equally  valuable  with  the  other  portions. 

In  the  carrying-out  of  these  measures  of  partition, 
which  the  world  has  usually  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 

*  (Euvres  de  Fr^d^ric,  vi.  20. 


THE   PARTITION   OF   POLAND.  55 

atrocious  acts  of  robbery  on  record,  resort  was  had  both 
to  bribery  and  force.  A  common  fund  was  raised  by 
the  three  powers  to  purchase  the  acquiescence  of  the  lead- 
iucc  members  of  the  Polish  diet.  Each  of  the  confeder- 
ate  powers  also  sent  an  army  to  the  frontiers  of  Poland 
to  crush  the  distracted  people,  should  any  forcible  resist- 
ance be  attempted.     Thus  the  deed  was  accomplished. 

It  would  seem  that  the  conscience  of  Maria  Theresa 
recoiled  from  the  political  crime ;  but  she  was  over- 
borne by  her  son,  the  emperor,  and  by  the  imperious 
spirit  of  the  prime-minister,  Kaunitz.  Wliile,  therefore, 
reluctantly  she  gave  her  assent  to  the  measure,  she 
issued  the  following  extraordinary  document :  — 

"  When  all  my  lands  were  invaded,  and  I  knew  not 
where  in  the  world  to  be  brought  to  bed  in,  I  relied  on 
my  good  right  and  the  help  of  God.  But  in  this  thing, 
where  not  only  public  law  cries  to  heaven  against  us, 
but  also  all  natural  justice  and  sound  reason,  I  must 
confess  never  in  my  life  to  have  been  in  such  trouble. 
I  am  ashamed  to  show  my  face.  Let  the  prince  (Kau- 
nitz) consider  what  an  example  we  are  giving  to  the 
world,  if,  for  a  miserable  piece  of  Poland,  we  throw  our 
honor  and  reputation  to  the  winds.  I  see  well  that  I 
am  aloue,  and  no  more  in  vigor :  therefore  I  must,  though 
to  my  very  great  sorrow,  let  things  take  their  course."  ^ 

In  allusion  to  the  same  subject,  Frederick  writes,  "  A 
new  career  came  to  open  itself  to  me  ;  and  one  must 
have  been  either  without  address,  or  Ijuried  in  stupidity, 
not  to  have  profited  hy  an  opportunity  so  advantageous. 
I  seized  tliis  uni'xpected  opportunity  l>y  the  forelock. 
By  dint  of  negotiating   and  intriguing,  1  succeeded  in 

1  "  ir.rmayr,  Taschoiilnich,  1831,  s.  GO."— Cited  by  Dr.  .T.  D.  E.  Prcus* 
hlstoriograplier  of  liraudenburg,  iu  his  Life  of  li'redorick  tlio  Gieiit,  iv.  38. 


56  HISTOKY   OF  PRUSSIA, 

indemnifying  our  monarchy  for  its  past  losses  by  incor- 
porating Polish  Prussia  with  my  old  provinces." 

It  was  unquestionably  a  great  benefit  to  the  region, 
thus  acquired,  to  be  brought  under  the  energetic  admin- 
istration of  Frederick.  "  As  Frederick's  seven  years 
struggle  of  war  may  be  called  superhuman,  so  was  there 
also,  in  his  present  labor  of  peace,  something  enormous, 
which  appeared  to  his  contemporaries  almost  preternat- 
ural, —  at  times  inhuman.  It  was  grand,  but  also  terri- 
ble, that  the  success  of  the  whole  was  to  him,  at  all 
moments,  the  one  thing  to  be  striven  after.  The  com- 
fort of  the  individual  Avas  of  no  concern  at  all."  ^ 

Frederick  died,  as  he  had  lived,  a  dreary  death  of 
pain  and  hopelessness.  He  had  no  faith  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  or  in  the  existence  of  any  God  who 
takes  an  interest  in  the  affairs  of  men.  In  the  severe 
anguish  of  his  dying-hours,  he  avoided  any  allusions  to 
religious  subjects.  There  is  no  royal  road  to  the  tomb. 
The  sufferings  of  the  dying  monarch  were  very  severe  ; 
but  he  bore  them  without  a  murmur.  The  king  was 
unreasonably  dissatisfied  with  his  phj^sicians,  who  could 
not  reheve  him  from  pain ;  and  sent  for  the  renowned 
Dr.  Zimmerman  of  Hanover.  In  the  following  terms, 
Dr.  Zunmerman  describes  the  appearance  of  the  king  at 
his  first  interview :  — 

"  When  I  entered  the  apartment  of  the  king,  I  found 
him  sitting  in  an  elbow-chair,  with  his  back  turned  to- 
ward that  side  of  the  room  by  which  I  had  entered. 
He  had  on  his  head  a  large  hat  very  much  worn,  orna- 
mented with  a  plume  of  feathers  equally  ancient.  His 
dress  consisted  of  a  cloak  of  sky-blue  satin,  all  bedaubed 

*  Freytug,  p.  397. 


TUE  PAKTITION   OF  TOLAND.  57 

and  tinged  (of  a  brownish-yellow  color)  with  Spanish 
snuff,  lie  wore  boots,  and  rested  one  of  his  legs,  which 
wa»  very  much  swelled,  upon  a  stool ;  while  the  other 
hung  down  to  the  floor. 

"  When  he  perceived  me,  he  pulled  off  his  hat  in 
a  very  civil  and  condescending  manner,  and  in  a  mild 
tone  of  voice  said,  '  I  return  you  many  thanks,  sir, 
for  your  kindness  in  coming  hither,  and  for  the  speed 
with  which  you  have  performed  your  journey.' "  ^ 

At  times,  the  Idng  appeared  exceedingly  dejected. 
There  could  have  been  but  little  in  the  memory  of  the 
past  to  give  him  pleasure.  The  present  was  shrouded 
in  the  gloom  of  sickness  in  its  most  painful  and  revolt- 
ing forms.  The  future  opened  before  him  but  the 
abyss  of  annihilation.  One  day,  as  the  doctor  entered 
his  room,  the  king  greeted  him  with  the  words  :  — 

"  Doctor,  I  am  an  old  carcass,  fit  only  to  be  thrown 
to  the  dogs." 

The  doctor  at  length  was  compelled  to  leave  his 
royal  patient,  and  return  to  Hanover.  "  I  left  the 
king,"  he  writes,  "not  only  in  a  dangerous,  but  in 
a  desperate  condition,  —  with  a  confirmed  dropsy,  to 
all  appearance  an  abscess  in  the  lungs,  and  such  a 
prostration  of  strength,  that  he  could  neither  stand  nor 
move  without  support." 

In  taking  leave  of  Dr.  Zimmerman,  the  king  said, 
"  Adieu,  my  good,  my  dear  Mr.  Zimmerman !  I 
ask  pardon  of  your  patients  for  having  deprived  them 
of  your  assistance.  I  thank  j-ou  for  your  kindness  in 
staying  with  me  so  long.  i\Iay  you  be  always  happy  I 
Do  not  forget  the  old  man  you  have  seen  here." 

*  Entxetiena  de  Fr^d^ric,  Roi  do  Prusse,  avec  le  Docteur  Zimmormon. 


58  HISTORY    OF  PRUSSIA. 

For  six  weeks  longer,  the  dying  king  remained  in 
a  state  of  constant  suffering.  The  dropsy  was  in  his 
(Stomach  and  chest.  His  limbs  were  greatly  swollen, 
frequently  bursting  into  loathsome  and  very  offensive 
wounds.  Asthma  caused  him  to  gasp  for  breath.  He 
could  not  lie  down  by  night  or  by  day,  but  was  confined 
to  a  wearisome  position  in  his  chair.  Mirabeau,  who 
was  in  Berlin  at  the  time,  writes,  — 

"  The  king  has  not  been  in  bed  for  six  weeks.  The 
swelling  augments.  He  sees  it,  but  will  not  perceive 
what  it  is,  or,  at  least,  will  not  appear  to  do  so.  He 
talks  as  if  it  were  a  swelling  accompanying  conva- 
lescence. He  is  determined  not  to  die  if  violent 
remedies  can  save  him,  but  to  submit  to  punctures  and 
incisions  to  draw  off  the  water." 

It  is  not  difficult,  in  youth,  health,  and  prosperity, 
to  reject  the  religion  of  Jesus ;  but  when  these  dark, 
sad  hours  of  the  dying-chamber  come,  if  one  have 
not  the  consolations  which  Christianity  proffers,  the 
most  dreadful  and  impenetrable  gloom  must  overshadow 
the  soul.  One  can  scarcely  conceive  of  a  scene  more 
utterly  joyless  and  dismal  than  the  dying-chamber 
of  Frederick  the  Great. 

On  the  ITth  of  August,  1786,  at  twenty  minutes  past 
two  in  the  morning,  he  died,  in  the  seventy-fifth  year 
of  his  age,  and  the  forty-sixth  of  his  reign.  There 
was  one  clause  in  his  will  which  was  judiciously  disre- 
garded. "  He  had  directed  himself  to  be  buried  near 
his  dogs,  in  the  gardens  of  Sans-Souci,  —  a  last  mark 
of  his  contempt  for  his  own  species.  He  was  buried 
in  a  small  chapel  in  the  church  of  the  garrison,  at 
Potsdam,  where,  side  by  side,  repose  Frederick  and 
his  father,  — the  former  in  a  coffin  of  block  tin,  the  latter 


THE   PARTITION   OF  POLAND.  59 

in  one  of  copper,  and  equally  without  ornament  of  any 
Idnd." ' 

The  Prussian  territory  had  been  nearly  doubled 
under  the  reign  of  this  extraordinary  man.  He  left 
the  crown  to  his  nephew,  his  deceased  brother's  son. 
Frederick  William  II.  commenced  his  reign  in  possession 
of  a  territory  of  71,670  square  miles,  being  but  little 
larger  than  the  State  of  Missouri.  It  contained  nearly 
six  million  inhabitants.  Tliis  little  realm,  proud  of 
its  military  prestige,  maintained  a  standing  army  of  two 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men.  This  army  con- 
sumed four-fifths  of  the  revenues  of  the  state. 

Frederick  "William  II.  was  a  profligate  and  a  weak 
man.  He  was  a  feeble  ruler,  and  a  Avretched  financier; 
speedily  exhausting  his  treasur}',  and  involving  the 
kingdom  in  debt. 

The  French  Revolution  soon  began,  like  a  moral 
earthquake,  to  shake  all  the  thrones  in  Europe.  In 
the  first  partition  of  Poland,  to  which  we  have  referred, 
there  had  still  been  a  considerable  portion  of  the  king- 
dom left  under  its  king,  Poniatowski.  The  example 
of  France  had  reached  the  wilds  of  Sarmatia.  On 
the  3d  of  Ma}',  1701,  the  Poles  ventured  to  establish 
a  republican  constitution  under  monarchical  forms. 
Perpetuating  an  heredltanj  monarchy,  they  proclaimed 
rehgious  toleration,  the  emancipation  of  the  hourgensle, 
and  the  progressive  emancipation  of  the  serfs. 

Burke  said  of  this  movement,  '"In  it  humanity  has 
every  thing  to  rejoice  and  glory  in.  It  is  probably 
the  most  pure  public  good  ever  yet  conferred  on 
manldnd.     Ten  millions  of  men  were  placed  in  a  way 

'  Life  of  Frederick  II.,  by  Lord  Dover,  vol.  ii.  p.  328. 


60  HISTOEY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

to  be  freed  gradually,  and  therefore,  to  themselves, 
safely,  not  from  civil  or  political  chains,  which,  bad 
as  they  are,  only  fetter  the  mind,  but  from  substantial 
personal  bondage.  Not  one  drop  of  blood  was  spilled ; 
no  insults  on  religion,  morals,  or  manners."  ^ 

Prussia  and  Russia  assumed  that  this  constitution 
was  bringing  dangerous  Jacobinism  too  near  their 
thrones.  They  united  their  armies  for  a  second  dis- 
memberment. In  overwhelming  numbers,  their  com- 
bined troops  crossed  the  frontiers,  and  were  cantoned 
in  the  provinces  they  had  seized.  Thus  was  Poland 
overrun  by  the  armies  of  the  two  most  jDOwerful  mihtary 
monarchies  in  Europe. 

The  chivalric  Poles  were  roused  to  energies  of  de- 
spair such  as  the  world  had  never  witnessed  before. 
Kosciusko  was  chosen  as  military  leader.  With  his 
brave  band  he  retook  Warsaw,  driving  out  the  Russian 
and  Prussians.  To  recapture  the  city,  Frederick  V/il- 
liam  II.  sent  thirty  thousand  of  his  perfectly-drilled 
soldiers  to  co-operate  with  forty  thousand  Russian 
veterans  sent  by  Catharine.  After  a  series  of  bloody 
conflicts,  Warsaw  was  taken  by  storm  on  the  4th  of 
November,  1794.  Amidst  conflagrations,  bombard- 
ments, shrieks,  and  death,  the  Polish  battalions  were 
driven  into  the  Vistula.  Ten  thousand  soldiers  perished ; 
ten  thousand  were  taken  prisoners ;  and  twelve  thou- 
sand of  the  inhabitants  of  Warsaw  were  put  to  the 
sword.  Stanislaus  was  sent  captive  into  Russia,  where 
he  died.  The  conquerors  divided  Poland  between 
them.^ 


1  Burke's  Appeal  to  the  Old  Whigs.    Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  224. 
"  Alison's  History  of  Europe,  vol.  i.  p.  358. 


"^3'S'   HXM 


THE   PARTITION   OF  POLAND.  61 

In  reference  to  this  great  crime,  the  poet  CamplDcll 
has  written  beautifully  in  his  "  Pleasures  of  Hope  :  "  — 

"Oh  bloodiest  picture  in  the  book  of  Time  ! 
Sarmatia  fell  unwept,  -without  a  crime  ; 
Found  not  a  generous  friend,  a  pitying  foe. 
Strength  in  her  arms,  nor  mercy  in  her  woe  ; 
Dropped  from  her  nerveless  grasp  the  shattered  spear; 
Closed  her  bright  eye,  and  curbed  her  high  career. 
Hope  for  a  season  bade  the  world  ftirewell ; 
And  Freedom  shrieked  as  Kosciusko  fell." 

Frederick  Wilham  II.,  the  King  of  Prussia,  died  at 
Berlin  on  the  16th  of  Nov.  1797.  He  did  not  leave 
behind  him  an  enviable  reputation  in  any  respect.  In 
the  final  partition  of  Poland,  Prussia  received  twenty- 
one  thousand  square  miles,  with  one  million  inhabitants. 
In  all,  Prussia  had  rol)bed  Poland  of  fifty-seven  thou- 
sand square  miles,  and  two  million  five  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  inhabitants.^ 

Frederick  William  HI.,  son' of  the  deceased  king,  who 
now  ascended  the  throne,  was  twenty-seven  years  of 
age.  Sir  Archibald  Alison,  whose  predilections  are 
strongly  in  favor  of  kings  and  nobles,  thus  describes 
him  :  — 

''  His  character  and  habits  already  presaged  the  im- 
mortal glories  of  his  reign.  Severe  and  regular  in  pri- 
vate hfe,  he  had  lived,  amid  a  dissolute  court,  a  pattern 
of  every  domestic  virtue.  Married  early  to  a  beautiful 
and  high-spirited  princess,  he  bore  to  her  that  faithful 
attachment  which  her  captivating  qualities  Avere  so  well 
fitted  to  excite,  and  which  afterwards  attracted  the  ad- 
miration, though  they  could  not  relax  the  policy,  or  meet 

*  Encyclopaedia  Americaua. 


t)2  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA 

tlie  sternness,  or  excite  a  spark  of  cliivalry  in  the  cold 
and  intellectual  breast,  of  Napoleon."  ^ 

The  young  king  wrested  from  the  Countess  Lich- 
stenau,  one  of  his  deceased  father's  guilty  favorites, 
many  crown-jewels  which  were  found  in  her  possession, 
and  a  large  portion  of  the  enormous  wealth  which  hud 
been  lavished  upon  her.  She  was  assigned  a  retreat 
near  Berlin,  with  a  salary  of  three  thousand  dollars. 

All  the  Continental  monarchs  were  soon  alarmed  by 
the  revolutionary  principles  which  were  so  rapidly 
spreading  throughout  France.  Prussia  and  Austria  en- 
tered into  a  coalition  to  unite  with  the  royahst  party  in 
France,  crush  out  the  popular  movement  with  the  tread 
of  their  armies,  and  restore  the  absolutism  of  the  ancient 
regime.  With  that  purpose  they  assembled  an  immense 
army  at  Coblentz,  on  the  Rhine.  The  march  of  the  in- 
vaders was  commenced  on  the  25th  of  July,  1792. 

The  allied  troops  consisted  of  eighty  thousand  of  the 
veteran  soldiers  of  Prussia,  and  sixty-eight  thousand 
Austrians.-  These  troops  were  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick.  His  mother  was  one 
of  the  sisters  of  Frederick  the  Great.  His  wife  was  the 
Princess  Augusta  of  England. 

In  three  great  divisions,  this  army,  one  hundred  and 
forty  thoasand  strong,  entered  France.  The  Duke  of 
Bnmswick  ascended  the  left  bank  of  the  Moselle,  to 
march  upon  Paris  by  the  way  of  Verdun  and  Chalons. 
His  immense  force,  in  all  its  immense  array  of  infantry, 
cavalry,  guns,  and  baggage,  crowded  forty  miles  of  road. 

Prince  tlohenlohe,  marching  twenty  miles  on  the  left, 

*  Alison's  History  of  Europe,  vol.  i.  p.  473. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  i.  p.  126;  also  Thiers'  History  of  the  French  Revolution  vol.  L 
p.  278. 


THE  INVASION  OF  FRANCE.  63 

pursued  a  route  which  passed  through  Thionvillc  and 
Metz.  Count  de  Clairfayt  led  his  battalions  on  the 
right,  by  the  iMezidres  and  Sedan. 

The  Duke  of  Brunswick  issued  a  proclamation,  which 
at  once  became  world-renowned,  and  which  exasperated 
the  popular  party  in  France  to  the  highest  degree. 

''  Their  majesties,"  said  the  duke  in  his  famous  mani- 
festo, "  the  Emperor  of  German}'-  and  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia, having  intrusted  me  with  the  command  of  the 
combined  armies  assembled  l)y  their  ordecs  on  the 
frontiers  of  France,  I  desire  to  acquaint  the  inhabitants 
of  that  kingdom  with  the  motives  which  have  deter- 
mined the  measures  of  the  two  sovereigns,  and  the  in- 
tentions by  which  they  are  guided. 

"  They  wish  to  put  an  end  to  the  anarchy  in  the 
interior  of  France  ;  to  stop  the  attacks  against  the  throne 
and  the  altar;  to  re-establish  the  royal  power;  to  restore 
to  the  king  the  security  and  liberty  of  which  he  is  de- 
prived, and  to  place  him  in  a  condition  to  exercise  the 
authority  which  is  his  own. 

"  Such  of  the  national  guards  as  shall  have  fought 
against  the  troops  of  the  two  allied  courts,  and  who 
shall  be  taken  in  arms,  shall  be  treated  as  rebels,  and 
punished  as  rebels  to  their  king. 

"  The  members  of  the  departments,  districts,  and 
municipalities,  shall  be  responsible,  with  their  lives  and 
property,  for  all  misdemeanors,  fires,  murders,  pillage, 
and  acts  of  violence,  which  they  shall  suffer  to  be  com- 
mitted, or  which  they  shall  notoriously  not  strive  to 
prevent  in  their  territory. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  the  cities,  towns,  ;uid  villages, 
who  shall  dare  to  defend  themselves  against  the  troops 
of  their  imperial  and   royal  majesties,  and  to  fire  upon 


64  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

them,  either  in  the  open  field,  or  from  the  windows, 
doors,  and  apertures  of  their  houses,  shall  be  instantly 
punished  with  all  the  rigor  of  the  law  of  war,  and  theii 
houses  demolished  or  burned. 

"  The  city  of  Paris,  and  all  its  inhabitants,  without 
distinction,  are  required  to  submit  immediately,  and 
without  delay,  to  the  king ;  to  set  that  prince  at  full 
and  entire  liberty ;  and  to  insure  to  him,  as  well  as  to  all 
the  royal  personages,  the  inviolability  and  respect  which 
the  laws  of  nature  and  nations  render  obligatory  on  sub- 
jects toward  their  sovereigns. 

"  Their  imperial  and  royal  majesties  will  hold  per- 
sonally responsible,  with  their  lives,  for  all  that  may 
happen,  to  be  tried  militarily,  and  without  hope  of  par- 
don, all  the  members  of  the  national  assembly,  of  the 
department  of  the  district  of  the  municipality,  and  of 
the  national  guard  of  Paris,  the  justices  of  the  peace, 
and  all  others  whom  it  may  concern. 

"  Their  majesties  declare,  moreover,  on  their  faith  and 
word  as  emperor  and  Idng,  that  if  the  Palace  of  the 
Tuileries  is  foreed  or  insulted,  that  if  the  least  violence, 
the  least  outrage,  is  offered  to  their  majesties,  the  king 
and  queen,  and  to  the  royal  family,  if  immediate  provis- 
ion is  not  made  for  their  safety,  they  will  take  exem- 
plary and  ever-memorable  vengeance  by  giving  up 
Paris  to  military  execution  and  total  destruction,  ai-d 
the  rebels  guilty  of  outrages  to  the  punishments  they 
shall  have  deserved,"  &c.^ 

"  The  greatest  sensation,"  writes  Prof.  Smyth,  "  was 
produced  in  our  own  country  of  Great  Britain,  and 
all  over  Europe,  by  a  manifesto  like  this,  which  went 

*  Thiers'  History  of  the  French  Revolution,  vol.  i.  p.  314. 


THE  INVASION   OF   FRANCE.  65 

in  trulli  to  say  that  two  military  powers  were  to 
inarch  into  a  neighboring  and  independent  kingdom,  to 
settle  the  civil  dissensions  there  as  they  thought  best, 
and  to  punish  by  military  law  all  who  presumed  to  re- 
sist them.  No  friend  to  freedom  could,  for  a  moment, 
tolerate  such  a  procedure  as  this."  ^ 

The  result  was,  the  Palace  of  the  Tuileries  was 
stormed  b}^  the  exasperated  populace  of  Paris  ;  the 
royal  family  was  taken  captive,  and  incarcerated  in  the 
Temple  ;  and  soon  both  king  and  queen  were  led  to 
the  guillotine.  Onward  pressed  the  allies  with  resist- 
less tramp.  All  opposition  melted  before  their  solid 
battalions.  Thionville  and  Verdun  were  surrounded 
and  captured.  The  victorious  invaders  crowded  the 
defiles  of  the  Argonne.  The  army  of  Dumouriez,  sent 
to  oppose  them,  was  almost  annihilated,  l^'ugitives 
rushed  into  Paris,  pale  and  breathless,  declaring  that  no 
further  opposition  was  possible. 

Terrible  was  the  consternation  in  Paris.  France  rose 
en  masse.  Every  man  on  the  popular  side,  pale  with 
deathless  resolve,  grasped  his  arms.  All  who  were  sus- 
pected of  being  in  alliance  with  the  Prussians  were 
mercilessly  assassinated.  The  venerable  Vergniaud  ut- 
tered a  word  which  nerved  every  arm. 

"  The  plan  of  the  enemy,"  said  he,  "  is  to  march  di- 
rectly upon  Paris,  leaving  the  fortresses  behind  him. 
Let  him  do  so :  this  course  will  be  our  salvation,  and  his 
ruin.  Our  armies,  too  weak  to  withstand  him,  will  be 
strong  enough  to  harass  him  in  the  rear.  When  he  ar- 
rives,  pursued  by  our  battalions,  he  will  find  himself 
face  to  face  with  our  Parisian  army,  drawn   up  in  bat- 

•  Prof.  Smyth's  Lectures  on  the  French  Ilcvolutioii,  vol.  ii.  p.  320. 
ft 


t)6  .  HISTORY    OF  PRUSSIA. 

tie  array  under  tlie  walls  of  the  capital.  There,  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides,  he  will  be  swallowed  up  by  the 
soil  which  he  has  profaned." 

The  excesses  committed  in  Paris  against  royalists  in 
the  blind  frenzy  of  the  hour  are  beyond  the  powers  of 
any  pen  to  describe.  Dr.  Moore,  an  English  gentle- 
man, who  was  an  eye-witness,  writes,  — 

"  Amid  the  disorders  which  have  taken  place,  it  is 
impossible  not  to  admire  the  generous  spirit  which  glows 
all  over  the  nation  in  support  of  its  independence.  No 
country  ever  displayed  a  nobler  or  more  patriotic  enthu- 
siasm." ^ 

On  the  20th  of  September,  1792,  the  Duke  of  Bruns- 
wick encountered,  to  his  surprise,  a  French  army, 
strongly  intrenclied  upon  the  heights  of  Valmy,  near 
Chalons.  Seventy  thousand  men,  peasants  and  artisans, 
had  rushed  to  those  heights.  For  twenty  days,  the  storm 
of  battle  raged  there  with  tremendous  fury.  The  young 
men  from  the  shops  and  the  fields  fought  from  behind 
their  ramparts  with  the  bravery  of  veterans.  From  all 
parts  of  France,  re-enforcements  were  hurrying  to  the 
scene  of  the  conflict.  The  supplies  of  the  invaders 
were  cut  off.  Sickness  decimated  their  camp.  The 
freezing  gales  of  winter  were  at  hand.  In  deep  humili- 
ation, the  Prussians  broke  up  their  camp  on  the  15th  of 
October,  and  retii-ed  to  their  fortresses  on  the  Rhine^ 
They  left  behind  them  twenty-five  thousand,  who  had 
perished  of  sickness,  the  bullet,  and  the  sword. 

"  The  force,"  writes  Alison,  "  with  which  the  Prus- 
sians retired,  was  about  seventy  thousand.  Their  re- 
treat was  conducted  in  the  most  imposing  manner  ;  tak- 

*  Journal  of  Sir  John  Moore,  vol.  i.  p.  160. 


THE   INVASION   OF   FRANCE.  C7 

Lng  position,  and  facing  about,  on  occasion  of  every 
lialt.  They  left  behind  them,  on  their  route,  most 
mehancholy  proofs  of  the  disasters  of  the  campaign. 
All  the  villages  were  filled  with  the  dead  and  dying. 
The  allies  had  lost  by  dysentery  and  fevers  more  than  a 
fourth  of  their  numbers." 


CHAPTER  V. 

PRUSSIA    AND   THE    FRENCH    REVOLUTION. 

S  the  allied  army  retreated,  after  its  defeat 
at  Valmy,  in  September,  1792,  Gen.  Du- 
mouriez  pursued  a  division  of  twenty-five 
thousand  Austrians  under  Gen.  Clairfayt. 
On  the  4th  of  November  he  overtook 
the  fugitives,  strongly  intrenched  upon 
the  heights  of  Jemappes,  near  Mons.  One 
day  was  employed  in  concentrating  the  French  forces 
and  arraying  the  batteries.  Twenty-five  thousand  men 
were  behind  the  ramparts :  sixty  thousand  advanced  to 
storm  them.  Early  in  the  morning  of  the  6th,  the  can- 
nonade began :  a  hundred  pieces  of  artillery  opened  their 
thunders.  All  day  long,  war's  fierce  tornado,  with  its 
whirls,  its  eddies,  and  its  onward  rush,  swept  the  field. 
The  Austrians  were  routed.  In  broken  bands  they  fled, 
having  lost  fifteen  hundred  prisoners,  and  four  thousand 
five  hundred  in  killed  and  wounded. 

"  The  sensation,"  writes  Thiers,  "  produced  by  this 
important  battle,  was  prodigious.  The  victory  of  Je- 
mappes instantaneously  filled  all  France  with  joy,  and 
Europe  with  new  surprise.  Nothing  was  talked  of  but 
the  fact  of  the  coolness  with  which  the  Austrian  artil- 
lery had  been  confronted,  and  the  intrepidity  displayed 

68 


PRUSSIA  AND  THE   FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  69 

in  storming  their  redoubts.  The  danger  and  the  victory 
were  even  exaggerated ;  and  throughout  all  Europe  the 
faculty  of  gaining  great  battles  was  again  awarded  to 
the  French."  ^ 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  (subsequently  King  Louis  Phi- 
lippe), at  that  time  a  young  man,  known  as  the  Duke  of 
Chartres,  greatly  signalized  himself  by  his  bravery  in 
this  conflict.  The  French  armies  now  swept  triumph- 
antly towards  the  Rhine,  driving  their  foes  before  them. 
Cheered  by  these  victories,  the  convention  in  Paris,  on 
the  19th  of  November,  1792,  issued  the  decree,  — 

"That  they  would  grant  fraternity  and  succor  to 
every  people  who  were  disposed  to  recover  their  liberty ; 
and  that  they  charged  their  generals  to  give  aid  to  all 
such  people,  and  to  defend  all  citizens  who  had  been 
or  might  be  disquieted  in  the  cause  of  freedom." 

This  decree  was  followed  ]:)y  another,  on  the  15th  of 
December,  declaring  that  France  would  proclaim,  in  all 
the  provinces  it  conquered,  "  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people,  the  suppression  of  all  the  constituted  authori- 
ties, of  all  feudal  and  territorial  rights,  of  all  the  privi- 
leges of  nobility,  and  exclusive  privileges  of  every  de- 
scription."^ 

The  people  were  invited  to  meet,  and  organize  new 
republican  governments  founded  on  popular  suffrage. 
By  these  defeats,  the  Prussians  were  placed  in  a  very 
deplorable  condition.  Winter  was  at  hand  ;  disease  was 
making  dreadful  ravages  in  their  camps  ;  republican 
principles  were  penetrating  even  the  ranks  of  the  army. 
A  flag  of  truce  was  sent  by  Frederick  William  III.  to 


»  Thiers'  History  of  flio  Frencli  Ilovohition,  vol.  ii.  p.  10. 
»  Jomini,  Histoiro  des  GueiTes  de  In  U(!volution,  ii.  264. 


70  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

confer  upon  terms  of  compromise.  Dumouriez  wrote  to 
the  French  Government,  — 

"  The  proposals  of  the  King  of  Prussia  do  not  appear 
to  offer  a  basis  for  negotiation ;  but  they  demonstrate 
that*  the  enemy's  distress  is  very  great.  I  am  per- 
suaded that  the  King  of  Prussia  is  now  heartily  sorry  in 
being  so  far  in  advance,  and  that  he  would  readily 
adopt  any  means  to  extricate  himself  from  his  embar- 
rassments." ^ 

The  negotiations  for  peace  were  not  successful. 

During  the  winter,  the  allies  gathered  their  forces 
anew ;  and,  in  the  spring,  Frederick  William  commenced 
another  campaign  by  besieging  the  French  fortress  of 
Mayence,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  The  King 
of  Prussia  brought  forward  fifty-five  thousand  men  ;  and 
Austria  sent  enough  troops  to  swell  the  number  to 
eighty  thousand.  The  French  had  about  the  same 
number  in  the  Valley  of  the  Moselle  and  in  their  for- 
tresses on  the  Rhine. 

The  King  of  Prussia  crossed  the  river,  without  oppo- 
sition, at  a  point  a  little  below  Mayence,  and  invested 
the  city  from  both  sides  of  the  Rhine.  The  garrison 
consisted  of  twenty  thousand  men.  The  investment 
commenced  in  April,  1793. 

The  city  of  Mayence,  nearly  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
River  Majaie,  was  even  then  a  ver}^  strongly  fortified 
place.  The  King  of  Prussia,  in  person,  conducted  the 
siege.  There  were  the  usual  scenes  of  bombardment, 
tumult,  and  blood,  storming-parties  repulsed,  and  sorties 
driven  back.  Two  hundred  pieces  of  artillery  played 
upon  the  fortress ;  while  floating  batteries,  placed  upon 

*  Dumouriez'  despatch  to  the  French  Government. 


PRUSSIA  AND  THE   FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  71 

the  Rhine,  threw  into  the  streets  an  incessant  storm 
of  shells. 

"  Distress  was  at  its  height.  Horseflesh  had  long 
been  the  only  meat  the  garrison  had.  The  soldiers  ate 
rats,  and  went  to  the  banlcs  of  the  Rhine  to  pick  np  the 
dead  horses  which  the  current  brought  down  with  it. 
A  cat  sold  for  six  francs  ;  horseflesh,  at  the  rate  of  forty- 
live  sous  per  pound.  The  officers  fared  no  better  than 
the  soldiers.  Gen.  Albert  Dubayet,  having  invited  his 
staff  to  dinner,  set  before  it,  by  way  of  a  treat,  a  cat, 
flanked  by  a  dozen  mice. 

"  Communications  were  so  completely  intercepted, 
that,  for  three  months,  the  garrison  was  wholly  ignorant 
of  what  was  passing  in  France.  The  Prussians,  who 
had  practised  all  sorts  of  stratagems,  had  false  "  Moni- 
teurs  "  printed  at  Frankfort,  stating  that  Dumouriez  had 
overthrown  the  Convention,  and  that  Louis  XVIII. 
was  reigning  with  a  regency.  The  Prussians  placed  at 
the  advanced  posts  transmitted  these  false  "  Moniteurs  " 
to  the  soldiers  in  the  French  garrisons. 

"  At  length  the  distress  became  so  intolerable,  that 
two  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  solicited  permission  to 
depart.  Albert  Dubayet  granted  it ;  but,  not  being  re- 
ceived by  the  besiegers,  they  remained  between  two 
flres,  and  partly  perished  under  the  walls  of  the  place. 
In  the  morning,  soldiers  were  seen  bringing  in  wounded 
infants  wrapped  in  their  cloaks."  ^ 

On  the  2.jth  of  July,  the  starved  garrison  was  com- 
pelled' to  capitidate.  The  King  of  Prussia  allowed  the 
troops  to  march  out  with  their  arms  and  baggage.  T!ioy 
simply  engaged  not  to  serve,  for  a  year,  against  tho 
allies. 

»  Thiers'  French  Revolution,  vol.  ii.  p.  260. 


72  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

But  Frederick  William  III.  had  now  become  weary 
of  the  war.  He  would  have  abandoned  the  enterprise ; 
but  England  came  forward  with  liberal  promises  of 
gold.  England,  uniting  with  Holland,  agreed  to  pay 
the  King  of  Prussia  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  a  month,  and  also  to  meet  all  the  expenses  of 
bread  and  forage  for  the  Prussian  army.  There  was 
also  granted  the  Prussian  king  a  gratuity  of  one  mil- 
lion five  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  aid  him  in  com- 
mencing operations,  with  the  promise  of  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  upon  his  return  to  the  Prussian  States. 

In  consideration  of  this  subsidy,  Frederick  Wilham 
agreed  to  furnish  sixty-four  thousand  five  hundred  men 
to  the  coalition ;  of  which  coalition,  England  was  now 
the  acknowledged  head.  The  Prussian  army  was  to  be 
under  a  Prussian  commander.  All  the  conquests  made 
of  French  territory  were  to  belong  jointly  to  England 
and  Holland.^ 

"  The  discontent  of  the  Prussian  troops,"  writes  Ali- 
son, "  was  loudly  proclaimed  when  it  transpired  that 
they  were  to  be  transferred  to  the  pay  of  Great  Britain. 
They  openly  murmured  at  the  disgrace  of  having  the 
soldiers  of  the  great  Frederick  sold  like  mercenaries  to 
a  foreign  power.  The  event  soon  demonstrated  that 
the  succors  stipulated  from  Prussia  would  be  of  the 
most  inefficient  description." 

The  conflict  raged  on  the  Rhine,  month  after  mnnth, 
with  varying  success.  Gen.  Kleber,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  French  forces,  driving  the  allies  before 
him,  crossed  the  Rhine,  and  carried  the  horrors  of  war 
into  the  territory  of  the  enemy.     Ere  long  he  encoun- 

*  Thiers'  French  Revolution,  vol.  iii.  p.  18. 


PliUSSIA  AND  THE   FKENCEI   IlEVOLUTIOX.  73 

tered  overwhelmiuG^  numbers,  and  was  compelled  to 
retreat  across  the  Rhine,  back  into  France.  Again,  re- 
enforcements  arriving,  the  French  republicans  assumed 
the  offensive,  and  carried  the  war  across  the  river  to  the 
right  bank.  Thus  the  blood-red  tides  of  battle  cbbetl 
and  flowed. 

This  majestic  stream,  the  Rhine,  wliieli  had  so  long 
been  the  boundary  of  the  Roman  Empire,  mainly  sep- 
arated the  antagonistic  armies  from  the  Alps  to  tlie 
ocean.  The  allies  had  an  immense  advantage  in  still 
holding  the  strong  fortress  of  i\Iayence,  which  they  had 
captured  on  the  French  side  of  the  Rhine ;  but  as  the 
rcjjublican  troops  gained  victory  after  victory,  and  Rrus- 
sia  itself  was  threatened  with  invasion  by  the  tricolor 
flag,  Frederick  William,  disheartened  and  trembling, 
again  resolved  to  withdraw  from  the  alliance. 

Republican  France  had  so  roused  herself,  that  she  had 
twelve  hundred  thousand  men  under  arms.  All  the 
important  military  points  on  the  liliine  were  in  their 
possession.  Holland  was  organizing  as  the  Republic  of 
the  United  Provinces,  and  entering  into  alliance  with 
the  French  Republic. 

Frederick  William  HI.  sent  a  commissioner  to  the 
headquarters  of  the  French  commander  to  propose 
l)eaee.  '  The  commissioners  met  at  Basle  ;  and  on  the 
6t]i  of  April,  171).'),  peace  was  concluded  M"ith  Prussia. 
Tlie  French  agreed  to  evacuate  all  the  provinces  they 
had  conquered  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine.  1'lie 
Prussian  king  pledged  himself  to  friendly  relations  with 
the  French  Republic. 

Still  I'^ngland,  Austria,  and  Naples  continued  the 
war  lor  three  years  longer.  The  Freiieh  armies,  having 
encouulercd  some  repulses  in  the  conflict  with  tlic  Aub* 


74  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

trians,  occupied  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and,  with 
that  broad  and  rapid  river  for  their  protection,  warded 
off  invasion  from  Germany.  Immense  French  victories 
gained  by  tlie  young  general,  Bonaparte,  over  the  Austri- 
ans  in  Italy,  led  to  a  convention  at  Rastadt  to  confer  upon 
terms  of  peace.  We  give  the  substance  of  these  nego- 
tiations as  stated  by  M.  Thiers.  The  intelligent  reader 
will  be  deeply  interested  in  comparing  the  claims  of 
France  and  the  reply  of  Germany  in  1798  with  the 
claims  of  Germany  and  the  reply  of  France  in  1870. 

France  demanded,  not  only  that  the  line  of  the  Rhine 
should  be  the  recognized  frontier  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, but  that  France  should  also  have  possession  of  all 
the  islands  in  the  Rhine,  which  were  very  important  in 
a  military  point  of  view.  France  also  demanded  Kehl 
and  its  territory,  opposite  to  Strasburg ;  and  Cassel  and 
its  territory,  opposite  Mayence ;  and  that  fifty  acres  of 
land  on  the  German  side  of  the  Rhine,  facing  the  old 
bridge  of  Huningen,  should  be  transferred  to  the  Re- 
public. In  addition  to  this,  France  insisted  that  the 
important  fortress  of  Ehrenbreitstein,  nearly  opposite 
Coblentz,  shoidd  be  clemohshed.  These  concessions,  it 
was  asserted,  were  essential  to  protect  France  from  the 
menace  of  Germanic  invasion. 

The  deputation  of  the  German  Empire,  on  the  other 
liand,  replied,  that  the  River  Rhine  was  the  natural 
boundary  between  the  two  nations,  offering  equal  se- 
curity to  both ;  that,  if  France  were  to  keep  all  the 
offensive  points,  this  security  would  cease  to  exist  for 
Germany.  They  proposed,  as  the  real  boundar}^,  the 
channel  of  the  main  branch  of  the  river,  —  all  the  islands 
on  the  right  of  that  line  to  belong  to  Germany;  all 
on  the  left,  to  France.     The  deputation  was  not  willing 


PRUSSIA  AND  THE   FRENCFI   REVOLUTION.  75 

that  France  should  retain  an}^  offensive  points  on  the 
river,  while  Germany  was  to  lose  them  all.^ 

After  long  negotiation,  the  obviously  reasonable  Ger- 
man proposition  was  accepted.  The  main  channel  of 
the  River  Rhine  was  declared  to  be  the  boundary  be- 
tween France  and  Germany.  This  important  treaty 
was  signed  in  September,  1798. 

The  establishment  of,  first  the  consulate,  and  then 
the  empire,  in  France,  increased  rather  than  diminished 
the  exasperation  of  the  old  feudal  monarchies.  Under 
these  new  organizations,  the  republican  doctrine  of 
equal  rights  for  all  men  was  retained.  Hereditary  no- 
bility was  rejected,  at  first  entirely  rejected,  and  then 
but  partially  revived.  Titles  of  honor  were  conferred  as 
the  reward  of  merit  only.  The  doctrine  of  the  "  di- 
vine riglit"  of  kings  was  utterly  repudiated;  and  the 
powers  of  government  were  based  upon  popular  suf- 
frage. 

The  feudal  kings  and  nobles  of  Europe  were  not  to  be 
deceived  by  a  name.  The  fact  that  the  Republic  called 
itself  an  Empire,  and  that  the  elected  executive  was 
called  Imperator,  instead  of  President,  rendered  repub- 
licanism, thus  arrayed,  as  formidable  as  ever.  The 
principles  avowed  were  in  direct  antagonism  with  all 
the  old  regimes :  consequently,  coalition  aftei  coalition 
was  organized  against  these  democratic  principles,  what- 
ever names  tliey  might  assume. 

The  antagonism  which  had  so  long  existed  between 
Prussia  and  Austria  was  qne  of  the  inlluenecs  wliich 
induced  Frederick  William  III.  to  witlidraw  from  the 
uliiancc   against   France.      During   the    ten    years    of 

'  'I"hiers'  History  of  the  Froncli  Itcvolution,  vol.  iv.  p.  20(>. 


76  HISTOEY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

peace  which  Prussia  enjoyed,  the  kingdom  had  rapidly 
increased  in  popuhxtion  and  wealth.  The  vicissitndes 
of  war  had  thrown  a  large  portion  of  the  commerce 
of  Germany  into  its  hands.  The  population  had 
increased  to  nine  million  five  hundred  thousand  souls ; 
its  net  income  amounted  to  about  fifty  million  dollars  ; 
its  standing  army  numbered  two  hundred  thousand 
highly-discipUned  troops.^ 

"  The  Prussian  capital  was  one  of  the  most  agreeable 
and  least  expensive  in  Europe.  No  rigid  etiquette,  no 
rigid  line  of  demarcation,  separated  the  court  from  the 
people.  The  royal  family  lived  on  terms  of  friendly 
equality,  not  only  with  the  nobility,  but  with  the 
leading  inhabitants  of  Berlin.  An  easy  demeanor,  a 
total  absence  of  aristocratic  pride,  an  entire  absence 
of  extravagance  or  parade,  distinguished  all  the  parties 
given  at  court ;  at  which  the  king  and  queen  mingled 
on  terms  of  perfect  equality  with  their  sul)jects. 

"  Many  ladies  of  rank,  both  in  Paris  and  London, 
spent  larger  sums  annually  on  their  dress  than  the 
Queen  of  Prussia.  None  equalled  her  in  dignity  and 
grace  of  manner  and  the  elevated  sentiments  with 
which  she  was  inspired.  Admiration  of  her  beauty, 
and  attachment  to  her  person,  formed  one  of  the  strong- 
est feelings  of  the  Prussian  monarchy."  ^ 

The  King  of  Prussia  was  the  first  of  the  monarchs, 
among  the  great  powers,  who  recognized  the  empire  in 
France.  Wlien,  in  1804,  Russia,  in  coalition  with 
Austria  and  England,  was  preparing  to  send  down  her 
Muscovite  legions  into  France,  Frederick  entered  into 
an  agreement  with  the  French  Empire  to  maintain  a 

^  Bignon,  Hi^toire  de  Fi-ance  dopuis  le  18mc  Brumaire,  t.  ii.  p.  293. 
*  Alison's  Ilistoiy  of  Europe,  vol.  ii.  p.  2Sfe. 


PItUSSIA   AND   THE    FRENCH    KEVOLUTIOX.  77 

Btrict  neutrality,  and  not  to  permit  Russian  or  any  other 
foreign  troops  to  cross  her  territories. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1803,  England,  Austria,  and 
Russia  formed  a  new  coalition  against  France,  into 
which  Sweden,  Hanover,  Sardinia,  and  Naples  were 
soon  drawn.  The  luiited  army  of  the  allies  was  to 
number  live  hundred  thousand  men. 

"  It  was  a  great  object,"  writes  Sir  Archibald  Alison, 
"  if  possible,  to  unite  Prussia  in  the  alliance.  For  this 
purpose,  M.  Xoviltzoff  was  dospatclicd  to  Berlin.  Not- 
withstanding all  the  efforts  of  England  and  Russia,  it 
was  found  impossible  to  overcome  the  leaning  of  Prus- 
sia towards  the  French  interest.  The  real  secret  of 
this  partiality  was  the  effect  of  the  glittering  prize, 
which  her  ministers  had  long  coveted,  in  the  electorate 
of  Hanover.  The  Prussian  Government  could  never 
divest  itself  of  the  idea,  that  by  preserving  a  dubious 
neutrality,  and  reserving  her  interposition  for  the  deci- 
sive moment,  she  might,  without  danger,  add  that  im- 
portant acquisition  to  her  domains. 

"  The  Prussian  ministers  at  length  openly  broached 
the  project  of  taking  provisional  possession  of  tliat 
electorate,  'as  the  union  of  the  Continental  dominions 
of  liis  Britannic  Majesty  to  Prussia  is  of  such  conse- 
quence to  tliat  monarch}^,  that  it  can  never  relinquish 
the  prospect  of  gaining  such  an  accjuisition,  providing 
it  can  be  done  Avithout  compromising  the  cliaractcr  of 
his  Majesty.' 

"  The  king  at  length  put  the  question, '  Can  I,  witliout 
violating  tie  rules  of  morality,  witliout  being  lield  up  in 
history  as  a  king  destitute  of  faith,  depart,  for  the 
acquisition  of  Hanover,  from  tlie  character  which  I 
have  hitherto  maintained?' 


78  HISTORY   OP  PRUSSIA. 

"  It  was  easy  to  see  in  wliat  sucli  contests  between 
duty  and  interest  would  terminate.  Before  the  middle 
of  August,  the  Prussian  cabinet  intimated  to  the 
French  minister  at  Berlin  their  willingness  to  conclude 
a  treaty  of  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  with  the 
French  Government,  on  the  footing  of  the  annexation  of 
Hanover  to  their  dominions.  Subsequent  events  pre- 
vented the  treaty  being  signed,  and  saved  Prussia  from 
this  last  act  of  cupidity  and  infatuation."  ^ 

During  all  this  time,  there  was  a  strong  minority  in 
Prussia  in  favor  of  war,  against  the  rapidly-spreading 
liberal  opinions  of  France.  The  Queen  Louisa  and 
Prince  Louis  were  prominent  in  this  party.  A  French 
army-corps  had  marched  through  a  corner  of  Anspach, 
thus  violating  the  territory  of  Prussia.  Though 
immediate  apology  was  made,  "  the  cabinet  at  Berlin," 
writes  Alison,  "  had  taken  umbrage  to  an  extent  which 
could  hardly  have  been  anticipated,  and  which  was 
greatly  beyond  the  amount  of  the  injury  intlicted. 

"  Matters  were  in  this  inflammable  state  when  the 
Emperor  Alexander  arrived  at  Berlin,  and  employed 
the  whole  weight  of  his  great  authority,  and  all  the 
charms  of  his  captivating  manners,  to  induce  the  king 
to  embrace  a  more  manly  and  courageous  policy.  Under 
the  influence  of  so  many  concurring  causes,  the  French 
influence  rapidly  declined. 

"  On  the  3d  of  November,  1805,  a  secret  conven- 
tion was  signed  between  the  two  monarchs,  for  the 
regulation  of  the  affairs  of  Europe,  and  to  erect  a 
barrier  against  the  encroachments  of  France. 

"  The  conclusion  of  this  convention  was  followed  by 

*  Alison,  vol.  ii.  p.  322. 


PRUSSIA  AND  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.     79 

a  scene  as  remarkable  as  it  was  romantic.  Wlicn  tlicy 
signed  it,  both  were  fully  aware  of  the  perilous  nature 
of  the  enterprise  on  which  they  were  adventuring. 
The  Archduke  Anthony  had  arrived  two  days  before 
witli  detailed  accounts  of  the  disastrous  result  of  the 
combats  around  Ulm. 

"  Inspired  with  a  full  sense  of  the  dangers  of  the 
Avar,  tlie  ardent  and  chivalrous  mind  of  the  queen  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  uuiling  the  two  sovereigns  by  a 
bond  more  likely  to  be  durable  than  the  mere  alliance 
of  cabinets  with  each  other.  This  was  to  bring  them 
together  at  the  tomb  of  the  great  Frederick,  where,  it 
was  hoped,  the  solemnit}'"  and  recollections  of  the  scene 
would  powerfully  contribute  to  cement  their  union. 

"  The  emperor,  Avho  was  desirous  of  visiting  the  mau- 
soleum of  that  illustrious  hero,  accordingly  repaired  to 
the  church  of  the  garrison  at  Potsdam,  where  his  re- 
mains are  deposited  ;  and  at  midnight  the  two  monarchs 
proceeded  together,  by  torchlight,  to  the  hallowed 
grave.  Uncovering  when  he  approached  the  spot,  the 
emperor  kissed  the  pall ;  and  taking  the  hand  (sword?) 
of  the  King  of  Prussia,  as  it  lay  on  the  tomb,  thc}^  swore 
an  eternal  fricndsliip  to  each  other,  and  bound  them- 
selves by  the  most  solemn  oallis  to  maintain  their  en- 
gagements inviolate  in  the  great  contest  for  European 
independence  in  wliich  they  were  engaged. 

"A  few  hours  after,  Alexander  departed  for  GalHcia, 
to  assume,  in  person,  the  command  of  the  army  of  re- 
serve, which  was  advancing  through  that  province  to 
the  support  of  Kutusoff.  Such  was  the  origin  of  that 
great  alhance,  which,  tliougli  often  interrupted  by  mis- 
fortune, and  deeply  checkered  with  disaster,  was  yet 
destined  to  be  brought  to  so  triumphant  an  issue,  and 


80  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

ultimatel}^  wroiiglit  sucli  wonders  for  the  deliverance  of 
Europe."  ^ 

Before  the  Prussians  had  brought  their  two  hundred 
thousand  troops  into  the  field,  the  French  armies,  under 
Xapo](ion,  had  captured  Vienna,  and  had  almost  annihi- 
lated the  Prussian  army  in  the  great  victor}^  of  Austerlitz. 
Prussia  had,  as  yet,  made  no  declaration  of  war.  The 
treaty  was  kept  a  profound  secret.  The  15th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1805,  was  the  appointed  day  in  which  war  was  to  be 
declared  against  France,  and  hostilities  were  to  com- 
mence. The  result  we  give  in  Sir  Archibald  Alison's 
words,  somewhat  abbreviated. 

The  Prussian  minister,  "  Hauguitz,  had  come  to  Vi- 
enna to  declare  war  against  Napoleon ;  but  the  battle 
of  Austerlitz  had  totally  deranged  their  plans.  The 
armistice  liad  completely  detached  Austria  from  the 
coalition.  The  severest  morality  could  not  condemn  a 
statesman  who  sought  to  withdraw  his  country  from  a 
contest  which  now  appeared  hopeless.  But,  not  content 
with  this,  Hauguitz  resolved  to  go  a  step  farther. 

"  On  the  breaking-up  of  the  confederacy  into  which 
he  had  just  entered,  he  determined  to  secure  a  part  of 
the  spoils  of  his  former  allies,  and,  if  he  could  not 
chase  the  French  standards  beyond  the  Rhine,  at  least 
wrest  from  England  those  Continental  possessions  which 
fihe  now  appeared  in  no  condition  to  defend. 

"  With  matchless  effronter}^,  he  changed  the  whole 
object  of  his  mission  ;  and  when  admitted  into  the  pres- 
ence of  Napoleon,  after  the  victory,  congratulated  liim 
upon  his  success,  and  proposed  a  treaty,  the  basis  of 
which  should  be  the  old  project  of  annexing  Hanover 
to  the  Prussian  dominions. 

*  Alison's  History  of  Europe,  vol.  ii.  p.  357. 


PRUSSIA  AND  THE  rRENCII   REVOLUTION.  81 

"  Although  Napoleon  IkuI  not  received  full  accounts 
of  the  treaty  of  the  3d  of  November,  he  was  aware  of 
its  substance.  Upon  receiving  Hauguitz,  therefore,  he 
broke  out  into  vehement  declamation  against  the  perfidy 
of  the  Prussian  cabinet ;  informed  him  that  he  was  ac- 
quainted with  all  their  machinations  ;  and  that  it  now 
lay  with  hira  alone,  after  concluding  peace  with  Austria, 
to  turn  his  whole  forces  against  Prussia ;  wrest  from  them 
Silesia,  whose  fortresses,  unarmed  and  unprovisioned, 
were  in  no  condition  to  make  any  defence  ;  excite  an  in- 
surrection in  Prussian  Poland,  and  punish  them  in  the 
most  signal  manner  for  their  perfidy. 

"  Reasons  of  state,  however,  he  added,  sometimes 
compelled  sovereigns  to  bury  in  oblivion  the  best 
founded  cause  of  animosity.  On  this  occasion,  he  was 
wilhng  to  overlook  their  past  misconduct,  and  ascribe  it 
entirely  to  the  efforts  of  England ;  but  this  could  be 
only  on  one  condition,  —  that  Prussia  should  at  length 
abandon  its  doubtful  policy,  and  enter,  heart  and  hand, 
into  the  French  alliance.  On  these  terms,  he  was  still 
willing  to  incorporate  Hanover  in  to  their  dominions,  in 
exchange  for  some  of  its  detached  southern  possessions, 
which  were  to  be  ceded  to  France  and  Bavaria. 

"  Overjoyed  at  the  prospect  thus  afforded  of  extri- 
cating his  country,  not  only  M'itliout  loss,  but  with  great 
accession  of  territory,  Hauguitz  at  once  accepted  the 
stipulations.  It  was  agreed  that  Prussia  should  enter 
into  an  alliance  with  France,  and  receive,  besides  tlie  mar- 
graviate  of  Baireuth,  the  whole  electorate  of  Hanover, 
in  fuU  sovereignty,  as  avcII  as  all  the  other  Continental 
dominions  of  his  Britannic  Majesty."  ^ 


*  Alison's  History  of  Europe,  vol.  ii.  p.  394. 
6 


82  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

This  treaty  was  signed  on  the  15th  of  December, 
1805,  —  the  very  day  on  which  Prussia  was  to  have  com- 
menced hostihties  against  France.  The  indignation 
which  tliis  transaction  excited  in  Great  Britain  was  in- 
tense. ]\Ir.  Fox,  who  was  then  minister,  said  in  his 
place  in  parliament,  "  The  conduct  of  Prussia  is  a  union 
of  every  thing  that  is  contemptible  in  servility  with 
every  thing  that  is  odious  in  rapacity."  ^ 

*  Parliamentaiy  Debates,  vi.  891. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


PRUSSIA     OVEllWIIEI.MED. 

|OUISA,  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  was,  intellectu- 
ally, far  the  superior  of  her  husband.  She 
saw  clearlj^  that  the  principles  of  the  French 
Revolution,  organized  in  the  empire  of 
France,  if  unchecked,  would  inevitably  nn- 
dermine  the  Prussian  and  all  other  feudal 
thrones.  The  war-party  in  Berlin,  with  the 
queen  and  Prince  Louis  at  its  head,  were  unmeasured 
in  their  vituperation  of  this  alliance  with  France. 
Their  remonstrances,  however,  were  of  no  avail. 

The  annexation  of  Hanover  to  Prussia  gave  to  that 
kingdom  an  increase  of  territorv  amounting  to  fourteen 
thousand  eight  hundred  square  miles  (equal  to  about 
twice  the  State  of  Massachusetts),  and  increased  the 
population  by  over  a  million.  The  course,  however, 
A\liicli  Prussia  pursued,  was  so  vacillatiug,  that  "  all 
sincere  friendship  had  become  impossible  between  Prus- 
sia and  France.  Prussia  was  regarded  as  a  suspected 
power,  whose  hollow  friendship  had  ceased  to  have  any 
value."  ' 

England  was  gi'catly  exasperated.  The  Prussian  har- 
bors were  immediately  declared  in  a  state  of  blockade, 


•  Bignon,  Ilistoirc  dc  France,  t.  v.  p.  223. 


83 


84  HISTORY   OP   PRUSSIA. 

and  ail  embargo  laid  upon  all  vessels  of  that  nation  in 
tlie  British  harbors. 

"  An  order  of  council,"  writes  Alison,  "  was  soon 
after  issued,  authorizing  the  seizure  of  all  vessels  navi- 
gating under  Prussian  colors.  And  such  was  the  effect 
of  these  measures,  that  the  Prussian  flag  was  instantly 
swept  from  the  ocean  ;  and,  before  many  weeks  had 
elapsed,  four  hundred  of  its  merchant-vessels  had  found 
their  way  into  the  harbors  of  Great  Britain."  ^ 

Queen  Louisa  and  Prince  Louis  were  still  consecrat- 
ing all  their  energies  to  bring  Prussia  into  co-opera- 
tion with  England,  Russia,  and  Austria,  in  antagonism 
to  the  principles  of  the  French  Revolution,  which  Avere 
now  being  borne  widely  through  Europe  on  the  imperial 
banners.  Suddenly  Prussia  changed  front,  renounced 
the  alliance  with  France,  and  commenced  vigorous  hos- 
tilities against  the  French  Empire.  We  give  the  reasons 
for  this  change  as  expressed  by  Sir  Archibald  Alison  :  — 

1.  France  had  overturned  the  constitution  of  the 
Germanic  Empire,  and,  by  the  newly-formed  confedera- 
tion of  the  Rhine,  had  made  Germany  essentially  tribu- 
tary to  the  French  Empire. 

2.  The  Queen  and  Prince  Louis  did  not  appeal  in  vain 
to  the  patriotic  spirit  of  the  nation.  "  The  inhabitants 
of  that  monarchy,  clear-sighted  and  intelligent  beyond 
almost  any  other,  as  well  as  enthusiastic  and  brave,  per- 
ceived distinctly  the  gulf  into  which  they  were  about 
to  fall.  One  universal  cry  of  indignation  burst  forth 
from  all  ranks.  The  young  officers  loudly  demantjed  to 
be  led  to  the  combat :  the  elder  spoke  of  the  glories 
of  Frederick  and  of  Rosbach.  An  irresistible  current 
swept  away  the  whole  nation. 

*  Alison,  vol.  ii.  p.  425. 


PRUSSIA   OVERWHELMED.  85 

"  3.  But  all  these  causes  of  complaint,  serious  as  they 
were,  sank  into  insignificance  compared  to  that  which 
asose  when  it  was  discovered  by  jM.  Lucchesini,  the 
Prussian  ambassador  at  Paris,  that  France  liad  entered 
into  negotiations  with  England,  on  the  footing  of  the 
restitution  of  Hanover  to  its  lawful  sovereign  ;  that, 
while  continually  urging  the  cabinet  at  Berlin  to  look 
for  indemnities  for  such  a  loss  on  the  side  of  Pomera- 
nia,  Napoleon  had*  engaged  to  Russia  to  prevent  them 
from  depriving  the  King  of  Sweden  of  any  part  of  his 
German  dominions ;  and  that,  while  still  professing  sen- 
timents of  amity  and  friendship  to  Frederick  William, 
he  had  offered  to  throw  no  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the 
re-estaljlishment  of  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  including 
the  whole  of  Polish  Prussia,  in  favor  of  the  Grand 
Duke  Constantine. 

"  Irritated  beyond  endurance  by  such  a  succession  of 
insults,  and  anxious  to  regain  the  place  which  he  was 
conscious  he  had  lost  in  the  estimation  of  Europe,  the 
King  of  Prussia  put  liis  armies  on  a  war-footing ;  de- 
spatched ]M.  Krusemark  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  'Si.  Lacobi 
to  London,  to  endeavor  to  effect  a  reconciliation  with 
ihese  powers ;  opened  the  navigation  of  the  Elbe  ;  con- 
cluded his  difficulties  with  the  King  of  Sweden ;  and 
caused  his  troops  to  defile  in  the  direction  of  Leipsic. 

"  The  torrent  of  public  indignation  at  Berlin  became 
irresistible.  The  war-party  overwhelmed  all  opposi- 
tion. In  the  general  tumult,  '  the  still  small  voice '  of 
reason,  which  counselled  caution  and  preparation  in  the 
outset  of  so  great  an  enterprise,  was  overtossed.  Prince 
Louis  and  his  confederates  openly  boasted,  that  Prussia, 
strong  in  the  recollection  of  the  great  Frederick  and 
the  discipline  he  had  bequeathed  to  his  followers,  wa^ 


86  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA 

able,  singie-handed,  to  strike  down  the  conqueror  of 
Europe.  Warlike  and  patriotic  songs  resounded,  amidst 
thunders  of  applause,  at  the  theatres ;  and  the  queen 
roused  the  general  enthusiasm  to  the  highest  pitch  by 
displaying  her  beautiful  figure  on  horseback  in  the 
streets  of  Berlin,  at  the  head  of  the  regiment  of  hus- 
sars, in  the  uniform  of  the  corps."  ^ 

The  Prussian  armies,  numbering  two  hundred  thou- 
sand, entered  the  heart  of  Saxony.  Frederick  William 
compelled  the  King  of  Saxony  to  join  the  alliance. 
"  Our  cause,"  he  said,  "  is  the  common  cause  of  legiti- 
mate kings.     All  such  must  aid  in  the  enterprise." 

The  young  emperor,  Alexander  of  Russia,  anxious  to 
efface  the  stain  of  Austerlitz,  was  hastening  by  forced 
marches  over  the  wilds  of  Poland,  with  two  hundred 
thousand  veteran  troops  in  his  train.  The  invincible 
fleet  of  England  crowded  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  of  the  Channel. 

At  midnight  on  the  24:th  of  September,  1806,  Na- 
poleon entered  his  carriage  at  the  Tuileries  to  join  his 
army  in  the  Valley  of  the  Rhine.  In  his  parting  mes- 
sage to  the  senate,  he  said,  "  In  so  just  a  war,  which  we 
have  not  provoked  by  any  act,  by  any  pretence,  the  true 
cause  of  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  assign,  and 
where  we  only  take  arms  to  defend  ourselves,  we  de- 
pend entirely  upon  the  support  of  the  laws,  and  upon 
that  of  the  people,  whom  circumstances  call  upon  to 
give  fresh  proofs  of  their  devotion  and  courage." 

"  Napoleon,"  says  Alison,  "  had  no  gallantry  or  chiv- 
alrous feeling  in  his  breast.  In  his  first  bulletin  he 
wrote,  '  The  Queen  of  Prussia  is  in  the  army,  dressed 

1  Alison,  vol.  ii.  p.  428. 


PRUSSIA  OVERWHELMED.  87 

OS  an  Amazon,  bearing  the  uniform  of  the  regiment  of 
dragoons,  writing  twenty  letters  a  day  to  spread  the 
eonflagration  in  all  directions.  We  seem  to  behold  Ar- 
mida  in  her  madness,  setting  fire  to  her  own  palace. 
After  her  follows  Prince  Louis  of  Prussia,  a  young 
prince  full  of  bravery  and  courage,  hurried  on  by  the 
spirit  of  party,  who  flatters  himself  he  shall  find  a  great 
renown  in  the  vicissitudes  of  war.  Following  the  ex- 
amples of  these  illustrious  persons,  all  the  court  cries, 
'  To  arms  ! '  but  when  war  shall  have  readied  them, 
with  all  its  horrors,  all  will  seek  to  exculpate  them- 
selves from  having  been  instrumental  in  bringing  its 
thunders  to  the  peaceful  plains  of  the  North.' 

"  Such,"  continues  Sir  Archibald  Alison,  "  was  the 
language  in  which  Napoleon  spoke  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful princess  in  Europe." 

By  skilful  manoeuvres,  the  whole  French  army,  in  a 
few  days,  having  crossed  the  Rhine,  were  thrown  into 
the  rear  of  the  Prussians,  thus  cutting  off  all  their  sup- 
plies. Victory  seemed  no  longer  doubtful.  Under 
these  circumstances,  the  emperor  wrote  as  follows  to 
Frederick  William :  — 

"  Sire,  I  am  now  in  the  licart  of  Saxony.  Believe 
me,  my  strength  is  such,  that  yoTU'  forces  cannot  long 
bidance  the  victory.  But  wherefore  shed  so  much 
blood?  to  what  purpose?  Why  should  we  make  our 
subjects  slay  each  other?  I  do  not  prize  a  victory  Avhuh 
is  purchased  by  the  lives  of  so  many  of  my  chiklrcn. 
If  1  were  just  commencing  my  military  career,  and  if  I 
had  any  reason  to  fear  the  chances  of  war,  this  language 
would  be  wholly  misplaced.  Sire,  your  INIajesty  will  bo 
vanquished :  j'ou  will  have  compromised  the  repose  of 


88  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

your  life  and  tlie  existence  of  your  subjects,  without 
the  shadow  of  a  pretext.  At  present  you  are  uninjured, 
and  may  treat  witli  me  in  a  manner  conformable  with  your 
rank.  Before  a  month  has  passed,  you  will  treat,  but 
in  a  different  position.  I  am  aware  that  I  may,  in  thus 
writing,  irritate  that  sensibility  which  belongs  to  every 
sovereign ;  but  circumstances  demand  that  I  should 
use  no  concealment.  I  implore  your  Majesty  to  view  in 
this  letter  nothing  but  the  desire  I  have  to  spare  the 
effusion  of  human  blood.  Sire,  my  brother,  I  pray  God 
tliat  he  may  have  you  in  his  worthy  and  holy  keeping. 
Your  Majesty's  good  brother,  "  Napoleon." 

"  Finding  affairs,"  writes  Alison,  "  in  a  situation  so 
much  more  favorable  than  he  could  have  anticipated,  Na- 
poleon, to  gain  additional  time  to  complete  the  encircling 
of  his  antagonist,  despatched  an  officer  of  his  household 
with  proposals  of  peace  to  Frederick  William."  What- 
ever may  have  been  the  motives  which  dictated  the  pa- 
cific overture,  no  reply  was  returned  to  the  letter. 
Though  the  despatch  was  intrusted  to  a  Prussian  officer, 
it  is  said  that  the  king  did  not  receive  it  until  the 
morning  of  the  battle  of  Jena. 

On  the  morning  of  the  14th  of  October,  the  two 
hostile  armies  met,  face  to  face,  on  the  plains  of  Jena 
and  Auerstadt.  The  two  battle-fields  were  at  the  dis- 
tance of  but  a  few  miles  from  each  other.  On  each 
side  the  soldiers  were  equally  brave,  equally  inured  to 
war,  and  were  led  by  able  generals.  Immediately 
there  was  commenced  one  of  the  most  awful  storms 
of  battle  which  has  ever  desolated  this  globe.  For 
eight  hours  the  struggle  continued,  with  the  summoning 
of  all   possible  human   energies.     About  mid-day,  the 


PRUSSIA  OVERWHELMED.  89 

Prussian  commander  felt  sanguine  of  victor}'.  He  de- 
spatched the  following  order  to  one  of  his  generals:  — 

"  Send  all  the  force  you  can  to  the  chief  point  of 
attack.  At  this  moment,  v/e  beat  the  enemy  at  all 
points.     My  cavalry  has  captured  some  of  his  cannon."' 

A  few  hours  later,  the  whole  aspect  of  the  field 
was  changed.  The  tide  of  disaster  was  surging  in 
upon  the  Prussian  general  from  all  directions.  The 
following  almost  frantic  despatch  was  sent  to  his 
reserve :  — 

"  Lose  not  a  moment  in  advancing  with  your  yet 
unbroken  troops.  Arrange  your  columns  so  that 
through  their  openings  there  may  pass  the  broken 
bands  of  the  battle.  Be  ready  to  receive  the  charges 
of  the  enemy's  cavalry,  which  in  the  most  furious 
manner  rides  on,  overwhelms  and  sabres  the  fugitives, 
and  has  driven  into  one  confused  mass  the  infantry, 
cavalry,  and  artillery." 

Night  came.  The  Prussian  army  was  destroj'ed. 
It  was  no  longer  a  battle,  but  a  massacre.  All  order 
was  lost,  as  the  Prussians,  a  rabble  rout,  lied  like 
an  inundation  from  the  field.  The  king  himself  nar- 
rowly escaped  being  made  prisoner.  In  the  gloom 
of  night,  and  almost  alone,  he  leaped  hedges  and 
fences,  and  plunged  through  field  and  forest,  to  effect 
his  escape.  Prince  Louis  fell  in  one  of  the  conflicts 
which  ushered  in  tlie  great  battle,  his  head  being  split 
open  by  a  sal)re  blow. 

The  Prussians  lost,  during  tliis  disastrous  da}',  twenty 
thousand  in  killed  and  wounded  ;  and  twenty  thousand 
were  taken  prisoners.  In  iioliiing  was  tiie  militaiy 
genius  of  Napoleon  more  conspicuous  than  in  the  vigor 
and  ability  with   which  he  pursued  a  vanquished  foo. 


90  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

Ill  less  than  fourteen  days,  every  remnant  of  the  Prussian 
army  was  taken,  and  all  the  fortresses  of  Prussia  were 
in  the  hands  of  the  French. 

Frederick  William  III.  fled  to  the  confines  of  Russia 
to  seek  protection  behind  the  bayonets  of  the  troops 
of  Alexander. 

Prussia  was  struck  as  by  a  thunderbolt.  The  history 
of  the  world  presents  no  other  example  of  such  a 
power  being  so  speedily  and  so  utterly  destroyed. 
In  one  month  after  the  emperor  left  the  Tuileries,  the 
feat  was  accomplished.  An  army  of  two  hundred 
thousand  men  was  killed,  captured,  or  dispersed.  For- 
tresses hitherto  deemed  impregnable  had  been  com- 
pelled to  capitulate.  Napoleon  was  reposing  in  the 
palace  of  the  Prussian  king  at  Berlin,  while  the  French 
army  was  encamped  in  the  streets  and  squares  of  the 
city.  Prussia  was  a  captive  in  the  hands  of  France, 
bound  hand  and  foot. 

By  what  is  called  the  right  of  conquest,  Prussia  now 
belonged  to  France.  Monarchical  Europe  heard  these 
tidings  with  amazement  and  dismay. 

Wherever  the  French  army  appeared,  it  was  the 
propagator  of  the  revolutionary  doctrines  of  "  equal 
rights  for  all  men."  Every  soldier  in  the  ranks  was 
animated  by  the  conviction,  that  all  the  avenues  of 
honor  and  of  wealth  were  open  before  him  ;  that  merit, 
not  birth,  was  the  passport  to  distinction.  Many  of  t:ie 
Prussian  ofiicers  appreciated  the  tremendous  power 
with  which  the  doctrine  of  equality  invested  the  French 
soldier. 

One  of  them  wrote,  in  a  letter  which  was  inter- 
cepted, "  The  French,  in  the  fire,  become  supernatural 
beings :  they  are  urged  on  by  an  inexpressible  ardor, 


PRUSSIA  OVERWHELMED.  91 

not  a  trace  of  which  is  to  be  discovered  in  our  soldiers. 
What  can  be  done  with  peasants  who  are  led  into  battle 
by  nobles  to  encounter  every  peril,  and  yet  have  no 
share  in  the  honors  or  rewards?  " 

The  King  of  Saxony,  as  we  have  mentioned,  had 
been  compelled  to  join  Prussia  against  France.  Such 
is  the  fate  of  the  minor  powers.  Immediately  after 
the  great  battle,  the  emperor  assembled  the  Saxon 
officers  in  one  of  the  halls  of  the  University  of  Jena. 

"I  know  not  why,"  he  said  to  them,  "  I  am  at  war 
with  your  sovereign.  He  is  a  wise,  pacific  prince, 
deserving  of  respect.  I  wish  to  see  your  country 
rescued  from  its  humiliating  dependence  upon  Prussia. 
"Why  should  the  Saxons  and  the  French,  with  no 
motives  for  hostility,  fight  against  each  other  ?  I  am 
read}^  on  my  part,  to  give  you  a  pledge  of  my  amicable 
disposition,  by  setting  jou  all  at  liberty,  and  by  sparing 
Saxony.  All  I  require  of  you  is,  no  more  to  bear  arms 
against  France." 

The  officers,  with  many  expressions  of  gratitude, 
departed  for  Dresden ;  and  Saxony  immediately  with- 
drew from  the  coalition.  But  the  armies  of  Russia, 
two  hundred  thousand  strong,  rapidly  advancing,  were 
still  to  be  encountered. 

"  It  was  shortly  after  having  detached  Saxony  from 
the  Prussian,  and  united  it  to  his  own  alliance,  tliat 
Napoleon  received  an  answer  from  the  King  of  Prussia 
to  the  illusory  proposals  of  accommodation  made  by 
him  Ijcfore  the  battle  of  Jena,  and  which  that  unhappy 
monarch  easily  caught  at  after  tliat  disaster,  as  the 
only  light  which  seemed  to  break  upon  his  sinking 
fortunes."  ^ 

*  Alison,  vol.  ii.  p.  455. 


92  HISTORY    OF   PRUSSIA. 

The  emperor  replied,  that  he  had  then  no  time  to 
negotiate  upon  the  terms  of  a  final  peace  ;  that  the 
campaign  was  but  just  begun,  and  that  he  must 
await  its  issue.  He,  however,  entered  into  an  armistice 
with  a  foe  who  was  disarmed  and  bound,  and  entirely 
at  his  mercy. 

The  French  army  then  pressed  forward,  through 
December  storms,  for  the  banks  of  the  Vistula.  There 
they  encamped  for  the  winter.  On  the  7th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1807,  the  terrible  battle  of  Eylau  was  fought. 
Immediately  after  this  great  victory,  the  French  emperor 
wrote  to  the  King  of  Prussia  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  desire  to  put  a  period  to  the  misfortunes  of  your 
family,  and  to  organize,  as  speedily  as  possible,  the 
Pi'ussian  monarchy.  Its  intermediate  power  is  necessary 
for  the  tranquillity  of  Europe.  I  desire  peace  with  Rus- 
sia ;  and,  provided  the  cabinet  of  St.  Petersburg  has  no 
designs  upon  Turkey,  I  see  no  difificulty  in  obtaining  it. 
Peace  with  England  is  not  less  essential  with  all  na- 
tions. I  shall  have  no  hesitation  in  sending  a  minister 
to  Memel,  to  take  part  in  a  conference  of  France, 
Sweden,  England,  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Turkey ;  but 
as  such  a  congress  may  last  many  years,  which  would 
not  suit  the  present  condition  of  Prussia,  your  Majesty 
therefore  will,  I  am  persuaded,  be  of  opinion,  that  I 
liave  taken  the  simplest  method,  and  one  which  is  most 
likely  to  secure  the  prosperity  of  your  subjects.  At  all 
events,  I  entreat  your  Majesty  to  believe  in  my  sincere 
desire  to  re-establish  amicable  relations  with  Russia  and 
England." 

These  overtures  the  allies  peremptorily  rejected.  The 
King  of  Sweden  wrote  to  the  King  of  Prussia, — 

"  I  think  that  a  pubhc  declaration  should  be  made  in 


PRUSSIA   OVERWHELMED.  93 

fnvor  of  the  legitimate  cause  of  the  Bourbons  by  openly 
espousing  their  interests,  Avliich  is  phiinl}'  that  of  all 
established  governments.  My  opinion  on  this  point  is 
fixed  and  unalterable."  ^ 

In  reference  to  these  proposals  of  peace  made  by  the 
Emperor  of  the  French,  Alison  savs  that  the  Russian 
general  strongh*  advised  Frederick  William  not  to  treat. 
He  urged,  that  the  fact  of  Napoleon  proposing  an  armis- 
tice, after  so  doubtful  a  battle  as  that  of  Eylau,  was  the 
best  evidence  that  it  was  not  for  the  interest  of  the 
allies  to  grant  it.  Napoleon,  being  thus  foiled  in  his 
endeavors  to  arrest  the  war  by  negotiation,  gathered 
up  his  strength  to  conquer  a  peace  with  his  s\yord. 

Scarcely  had  the  snows  of  winter  begun  to  melt,  ere 
the  French  army  commenced  its  march  northward  from 
the  banks  of  the  Vistula  to  the  Banks  of  the  Niemcn. 
A  campaign  of  ten  days,  wliicli  culminated  in  the  great 
French  victory  of  Friedland,  secured  the  following  re- 
sults :  — 

The  French  took  one  hundred  and  twenty  pieces  of 
cannon,  seven  colors,  and  killed,  wounded,  or  captured 
sixty  thousand  Russians.  They  took  from  the  hostile 
army  all  its  magazines,  its  hospitals,  its  ambulances,  the 
fortress  of  Kijnigsberg,  witli  three  hundi'cd  vessels 
which  were  in  that  port,  laden  with  all  kinds  of  mili- 
tary stores,  and  one  hundred  thousand  muskets,  which 
England  was  sending  to  the  aid  of  the  Russians.'- 

Frederick  William  was  with  Alexander  at  the  time  of 
tliis  terrible  defeat  of  the  Russian  arms.  The  confer- 
ence at  Tilsit,  between  the  Emperor  of  France  and  the 
Emperor  of  Russia,  ensued. 

*  M^moires  'run  lloinme  d"fit:it  (I'lincc  II:>nlenberj:;),  t.  ix.  p.  30(5. 

•  Bigiion,  Ilijtoire  do  France  ile])ui-;  le  18ino  Bnimaire,  t.  vi.  p.  ail. 


94  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

"  France,"  says  Alison,  "  had  nothing  to  demand  of 
Russia,  except  that  she  shoukl  close  her  ports  against 
England ;  Russia  nothing  to  ask  of  France,  but  that  she 
should  withdraw  her  armies  from  Poland,  and  permit 
the  emperor  to  pursue  his  long-cherished  projects  of 
conquest  in  Turkey."  ^ 

The  two  emperors  speedily  agreed  upon  terms  of 
peace.  The  poor  King  of  Prussia  was  quite  disregarded 
in  these  arrangements. 

"  The  King  of  Prussia  arrived  two  days  after  in  Til- 
sit, with  his  beautiful  and  unfortunate  queen,  and  the 
ministers  on  both  sides,  —  Talleyrand  on  the  part  of 
France,  and  Marshal  Kalkreuth  on  that  of  Prussia. 
But  they  were  of  little  service ;  for  such  was  the  extraor- 
dinary length  to  which  the  intimacy  of  the  two  em- 
perors had  gone,  that  not  only  did  they  invariably  dine 
and  pass  the  evening  together,  but  almost  all  the  morn- 
ing conferences,  during  which  the  destinies  of  the 
world  were  arranged,  were  conducted  by  them  in  per- 
son." 2 

"  Had  the  Queen  of  Prussia  arrived  earlier  ao  our 
conferences,"  says  Napoleon,  "  it  might  have  had  much 
influence  upon  the  result  of  our  negotiations ;  but, 
happily,  she  did  not  make  her  appearance  till  all  was 
settled.  As  soon  as  she  arrived,  I  went  to  pay  her  a 
visit.  She  was  very  beautiful,  but  somewhat  past  the 
first  flower  of  youth.  She  received  me  in  despair,  ex- 
claiming, '  Justice,  justice  ! '  and  throwing  herself  back 
with  loud  lamentations.  I  at  length  prevailed  on  her 
to  take  a  seat ;  but  she  continued,  nevertheless,  her  pa- 
thetic entreaties. 

*  Alison,  vol.  ii.  p.  541. 

*  Memoires  de  Savary,  Duke  of  Rovigo,  t.  iii.  p.  77. 


PRUSSIA  OVERWHELMED.  95 

"  '  Prussia,'  said  she,  '  was  blinded  in  re.!jard  to  her 
power.  She  ventured  to  enter  the  lists  with  a  hero, 
oppose  herself  to  the  destinies  of  France,  and  neglect 
its  fortunate  friendship.  She  has  been  severely  punished 
for  her  folly.  The  glory  of  the  great  Frederick,  the 
halo  his  name  spread  round  our  arms,  had  inflated  the 
heart  of  Prussia.     They  have  caused  her  ruin.' 

"  Magdeburg,"  continues  the  emperor,  "  was  the  ob- 
ject of  her  entreaties  ;  and  when  Napoleon,  before  din- 
ner, presented  her  with  a  beautiful  rose,  she  at  first 
refused  it,  but  immediately  after  took  it  with  a  smile, 
adding,  '  At  least  with  Magdeburg,' 

"'I  must  observe  to  your  Majesty,'  replied  the  em- 
peror, '  that  it  is  I  who  give,  and  you  only  who  must 
receive.' 

"  The  Queen  of  Prussia,"  Napoleon  continues,  "  un- 
questionably possessed  talents,  great  information,  and 
singular  acquaintance  with  affairs.  She  was  the  real 
sovereign  for  fifteen  years.  In  truth,  in  spite  of  my  ad- 
dress and  utmost  efforts,  she  constantly  led  the  conver- 
sation, returned  at  pleasure  to  her  subject,  and  directed 
it  as  she  chose,  but  with  so  much  tact  and  delicacy, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  take  offence."  ^ 

The  Queen  of  Prussia  was  most  bitterly  disappointed 
at  the  terms  of  the  treaty  which  her  husband  felt  con- 
strained to  sign.  The  losses  of  Prussia,  by  this  treaty, 
were  en))rmous.  Frederick  William  had  about  one-half 
his  kingdom  restored  to  him.  The  portion  which  Prus- 
sia had  ^vrested  from  Poland  was  organized  into  a  Po- 
lish state,  called  the  Duchy  of  Warsaw.  The  provinces 
of  Prussia  upon  the  left  bank  of  the  Elbe  were  formed 

1  Najtoleon  at  St.  Helena,  by  Johii  S.  C.  Abbott,  pp.  371,  27a. 


^6  HISTORY    OF   PRUSSIA, 

into  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia.  The  Idngdom  of 
Prussia  was  reduced  from  about  nine  million  of  inhabit- 
ants to  about  five  millions.  Her  revenue  of  twenty- 
four  million  dollars  was  diminished  to  fourteen  mil- 
lion dollars.  The  fortresses  left  her,  whether  in  Si- 
lesia or  on  the  Oder,  remained  in  the  hands  of  France 
as  security  for  the  payment  of  the  war-contributions.^ 

"  At  the  same  time,"  writes  Alison,  "  enormous  con- 
tributions, amounting  to  the  stupendous,  and,  if  not 
proved  by  authentic  documents,  the  incredible  sum  of 
twenty  millions  sterhng,  were  imposed  on  the  countries 
which  had  been  the  seat  of  war  between  the  Rhine  and 
the  Niemen.  This  grievous  exaction  completely  para- 
lyzed the  strength  of  Prussia,  and  rendered  her,  for  the 
next  five  years,  totally  incapable  of  extricating  herself 
from  that  iron  net  in  which  she  was  enveloped  by  the 
continued  occupation  of  her  fortresses  by  the  French 
troops."  ^ 

»  Bignou's  Histoire  de  France,  t.  vi.  p.  35.  *  Alison,  vol.  ii.  p.  547, 


# 


CHAPTER    VII. 


FREDERICK    AVILLIAM    III.    AND    THE    NEW    COALITION. 


REDERICK  WILLIAM  of  Prussia,  though  of 
moderate  abilities,  seems  to  have  been  an 
honest    and    humane    man.      The    folloAvin^ 


touching  proclamation,  which  he  issued  to 
the  inhabitants  of  his  lost  provinces,  won  for 
him  the  esteem  of  every  generous  heart  in 
Europe  :  — 

"  Dear  inhabitants  of  fiiitliful  provinces,  districts,  and 
towns,  my  arms  have  been  unfortunate.  Driven  to 
the  extreme  boundaries  of  my  empire,  and  having  my 
powerful  ally  conclude  an  armistice,  and  sign  a  peace, 
no  choice  remained  to  me  but  to  follow  his  example. 
That  peace  imposed  on  me  tlie  most  painful  sacrifices. 
The  bonds  of  treaties,  the  reciprocal  ties  of  love  and 
duty,  the  fruit  of  ages  of  labor,  have  been  broken 
asunder.  All  my  efforts  (and  they  have  been  most 
strenuous)  have  proved  in  vain.  Fate  ordains  it.  A 
father  is  compelled  to  depart  from  his  children.  I 
hereby  release  you  from  your  allegiance  to  me  and  my 
house.  j\Iy  most  ardent  prayers  for  j^our  welfare  will 
always  attend  you  in  your  rekitions  to  3-our  new  sover- 
eigns.    Be  to  them  what  you  liave  ever  been  to  me. 

7  97 


98  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

Neither  force  nor  fate  shall  ever  sever  the  remembrance 
of  you  from  my  heart."  ^ 

The  grief  of  the  unhappy  Queen  of  Prussia  wore  so 
heavily  upon  her  spirits,  that  she  soon  sank  into  the 
grave,  when  but  thirty-nine  years  of  age.  She,  above 
all  others,  had  instigated  the  war ;  and  she  could  not 
brook  the  ruin  which  she  had  thus  brought  upon  her 
country  and  her  house.  Her  life  was  indeed  a  sad  one, 
full  of  trouble.  Her  virtues  were  her  own :  her  faults 
were  to  be  -attributed  to  her  education  and  the  times. 

The  kingdom  of  Frederick  the  Great  had  apparently 
met  with  an  irreparable  blow ;  but  the  king,  Frederick 
William  IH.,  instead  of  sinking  in  despair,  nobly  roused 
himself  to  additional  exertions  to  develop  the  wealth 
and  resources  of  his  diminished  realms.  The  calamity 
wliich  had  befallen  Prussia,  in  the  end  proved  a  bless- 
ing. A  new  era  of  freedom  and  equality  dawned  upon 
the  realm,  which  had  hitherto  been  governed  by  abso- 
lute power. 

The  illustrious  Baron  Stein,  in  the  retirement  of  his 
estates,  had  pondered  the  great  questions  which  were 
now  agitating  Europe.  His  mind,  greatly  liberalized, 
had  become  deeply  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  politi- 
cal reform.  Upon  being  appointed  minister  of  the 
interior,  he  issued  an  ordinance,  conferring  upon 
peasants  and  burghers  the  right,  hitherto  confined  to 
the  nobles,  of  acquiring  and  holding  landed  propert3\ 
The  nobles,  in  their  turn,  were  permitted,  without  losing 
caste,  to  engage  in  pursuits  of  commerce  and  industry. 
Every  species  of  slavery  and  of  feudal  servitude  was 
forever  abolished.  The  inhabitants  of  cities  were 
allowed  to  choose  councillors,  who  should  regulate  all 

'  Scott's  Napoleon. 


FREDERICK   WILLIAM  IIL  99 

local  and  municipal  concerns.  Thus  the  disastera 
which  Prussia  had  encountered  led  her  to  relax  tho 
fetters  of  the  feudal  system,  and  vigorously  to  com- 
mence the  introduction  of  repuljlican  reforms.^ 

Gen.  Scharnhorst  was  appointed  minister  of  war. 
"  In  him,"  says  Alison,  "  a  blameless  life  and  amiable 
manners  were  combined  with  the  purest  patriotism 
and  the  soundest  judgment.  Exalted  attainments  were 
undisfigured  by  pride." 

Gen.  Scliarnhorst,  following  the  admirable  example 
of  Baron  Stein,  threw  open  to  the  common  soldiers  the 
higher  offices  of  the  army,  from  which  they  had 
hitherto  been  excluded.  He  abolished  those  degrading 
corporal  punishments  under  which  the  self-respect  of 
the  soldier  had  wilted.  He  also  abolished  those  invidi- 
ous distinctions,  which,  by  exempting  the  aristocratic 
classes  from  the  burden  of  military  service,  caused  its 
weight  to  fall  more  severely  upon  those  who  were  not 
relieved. 

By  the  engagements  with  France,  it  was  stipulated 
that  Prussia  should  not  keep  on  foot  an  army  of  more 
than  forty-two  thousand  men.  The  letter  of  this 
agreement  was  kept,  while  its  spirit  was  evaded,  by 
never  having  more  than  the  agreed  number  at  once  in 
arms.  The  young  recruits,  having  been  thoroughly 
drilled,  were  sent  to  their  homes  ;  and  others  took  their 
places :  thus,  while  but  forty  thousand  were  enrolled, 
there  were  soon  more  than  two  hundred  thousand 
thoroughly  trained  to  arms. 

In  the  year  1812,  Napoleon  commenced  liis  fata] 
campaign  to  Moscow.     The  latter  part  of  December, 

»  MC-moires  d'un  Ilomme  d'iitat  (Prince  Uanlenborg),  t.  ix.  p.  460. 


100  HISTORY   OF   PRUSSIA. 

the  tidings  of  the  utter  disaster  which  had  over- 
whelmed the  French  armies  reached  Berhn.  The 
opponents  of  the  French  alliance,  still  numerous  in 
Prussia,  were  clamorous  for  a  general  uprising,  to 
attack  the  French  in  the  disorder,  the  misery,  and  the 
helplessness  of  their  retreat ;  but  the  king,  and  his 
able  minister  Hardenberg,  remained  faithful  to  their 
treaty-obligations.  Great  anxiety  was  felt  in  Paris  in 
consequence  of  the  past  fickleness  of  Prussia :  but 
Augereau,  the  French  minister  at  Berlin,  wrote  to  the 
French  Government,  that  France  had  no  cause  for 
anxiety ;  that  the  Berhn  cabinet  would  remain  firm  to 
the  French  alliance.^ 

Still  the  opponents  of  France  were  unwearied  in  their 
endeavors  to  change  the  policy  of  the  government, 
and  enter  into  an  alliance  with  Russia.  One  of  the 
Prussian  generals,  De  York,  treacherously  entered  into 
a  secret  treaty  with  a  Russian  general  to  do  nothing 
to  oppose  the  advance  of  the  Russian  troops  in  their 
pursuit  of  the  French.  He  excused  himself  for  this 
act  of  perfidy  by  the  declaration  that  the  French  were 
so  utterly  routed,  and  his  own  forces  so  weak,  that  in 
this  way  only  could  he  save  his  army-corps  from  de- 
struction. In  a  despatch  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  he 
stated,  — 

"  Now  or  never  is  the  time  for  jonr  Majesty  to  ex- 
tricate yourself  from  the  thraldom  of  an  ally  whose 
intentions  in  regard  to  Prussia  are  veiled  in  impenetra- 
ble darkness,  and  justify  the  most  serious  alarm.  That 
consideration  has  guided  me  :  God  grant  it  may  be  for 
the  salvation  of  the  country  !  "  ^ 

*  Augereau  to  Berthier,  Dec.  22, 1812. 

»  Baron  Fain,  Campagne  de  1S14,  t.  ii.  p.  209. 


FREDERICK  WILLIAM  III.  101 

"  Never,"  -writes  Alison,  "  was  a  monarch  more 
embarrassed  by  a  step  on  the  part  of  a  lieutenant  than 
the  King  of  Prussia  was  on  this  occasion.  His  first 
words  were,  '  Here  is  enough  to  give  one  a  stroke  of 
apoplexy.'  Deeply  impressed  with  the  sanctity  of  his 
existing  treaties  with  France,  and  feeling,  as  every  man 
of  honor  would,  that  the  obligation  to  maintain  them 
inviolate  was  only  rendered  the  more  stringent  by  the 
disasters  which  had  overwhelmed  the  imperial  armies, 
he  saw  clearly  that  the  agitation  in  his  dominions  was 
such,  that  it  was  not  improbable  that  the  people  would 
ere  long  take  the  matter  into  their  own  hands,  and, 
whatever  the  government  might  do,  join  the  Russians 
as  soon  as  they  advanced  into  the  Prussian  territory."  ^ 

Oppressed  by  these  embarrassments,  the  king  re- 
mained faithful  to  his  treaty-obligations.  Gen.  De  York 
was  ordered  under  arrest.  His  command  of  fifteen 
thousand  men  wa^  conferred  on  Gen.  Kleist,  who  was 
ordered  to  take  his  contingent  as  rapidly  as  possible  to 
the  aid  of  the  retreating  French.  At  the  same  time, 
Prince  Hardenberg  submitted  to  the  French  ambassa- 
dor at  Berlin,  with  the  approval  of  the  king,  a  proposal 
to  consolidate  the  union  between  Prussia  and  France 
by  the  marriage  of  the  Prince  Royal  of  Prussia  with  a 
princess  of  the  family  of  the  French  emperor.  Fred- 
erick William  engaged,  under  these  circumstances,  to 
raise  the  Prussian  contingent  in  the  service  of  France 
to  sixty  thousand  men.''* 

Frederick  William  wrote  to  the  French  minister,  the 
Duke  of  Bassano,  on  the  12th  of  January,  181-3,  — 

"  Tell  the  emperor,  that,  as  to  pecuniary  sacrifices, 

»  Alison,  iv.  40.  *  Baron  Fain,  Campagne  de  18U,  t.  i.  p.  207. 


102  HISTORY  OF  PHUSSIA. 

they  are  no  longer  in  my  power ;  but  that,  if  he  will 
give  me  money,  I  can  raise  and  arm  fifty  thousand  or 
sixty  thousand  men  for  his  service.  I  am  the  natural 
ally  of  France.  By  changing  my  system  of  policy,  I 
should  only  endanger  my  position,  and  give  the  emperor 
grounds  for  treating  me  as  an  enemy.  I  know  there 
are  fools  who  regard  France  as  struck  down ;  but  you 
will  soon  see  it  present  an  army  of  three  hundred  thou- 
sand men  as  brilliant  as  the  former."  ^ 

Early  in  January,  1813,  the  Russian  armies,  pursuing 
the  retreating  French,  entered  the  Prussian  territory. 
Proclamations  were  scattered  broadcast,  urging  the  in- 
habitants of  Prussia  to  rise,  and  join  in  the  war  agauist 
France.  The  Russians  rapidly  took  possession  of  the 
fortresses  of  Prussia.  On  the  4th  of  March,  the  ad- 
vance guard  of  Cossacks  entered  Berlin ;  and,  on  the 
11th,  Berlin  became  the  headquarters  of  the  Russian 
army.  Still  the  Prussian  monarch,  who  had  retired  to 
Breslau,  remained  firm  in  his  allegiance  to  France. 

On  the  15th  of  May,  1813,  the  Prussian  minister,  Har- 
denberg,  wrote  to  the  French  minister,  St.  Marsau,  — 

"  The  system  of  the  king  has  undergone  no  altera- 
tion. No  overtures,  direct  or  indirect,  have  been  made 
to  Russia.  If  the  emperor  approves  the  steps  which 
have  been  taken  to  secure  the  neutrality  of  Silesia,  and 
will  grant  some  pecuniary  assistance  to  Prussia,  the  al- 
liance could  be  contracted  more  closely  than  ever. 
Nothing  but  despair  will  throw  Prussia  into  the  arms  of 
Russia."  2 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt,"  writes  Alison,  "  that  these 
protestations  on  the  part  of  the  Prussian  monarch  were 

1  Baron  Fain,  t.  i.  p.  213.       *  M^moires  d'un  Homme  d'Etat,  t.  xii.  p.  32. 


FKEDERICK   WILLIAM  IIL  103 

sincere  ;  and  that  it  only  lay  with  Napoleon,  hy  giving 
him  some  pecuniary  assistance,  to  secure  the  cabinet  of 
Berlin  in  the  French  alliance,  and  gain  an  auxiliary 
force  of  sixty  thousand  men  to  aid  him  in  defending  the 
course  of  the  Elbe."  ^ 

But  it  was  obvious  to  the  emperor,  that  Prussia,  over- 
run by  the  triumphant  armies  of  Russia,  would  be  com- 
pelled to  join  in  the  coalition  against  France.  lie  judged 
correctly.  The  anti-French  party,  sustained  by  the  Rus- 
sian armies,  rapidly  increased  in  influence.  Secret  ne- 
gotiations were  opened  between  them  and  the  Russian 
general.  At  length  a  treaty  was  formed,  called  the 
"  Treaty  of  Kalisch,"  to  which  Frederick  William  was 
induced,  with  great  difficulty,  to  give  his  assent. 

By  this  treaty,  an  alliance,  "  offensive  and  defensive," 
was  formed  between  the  Emperor  of  Russia  and  the 
King  of  Prussia  to  prosecute  the  war  with  France. 
Prussia  agreed  to  bring  eighty  thousand  men  into  the 
field,  independent  of  the  garrisons  in  the  fortresses. 
Neither  party  was  to  make  peace  Avithout  the  consent 
of  the  other :  jointly,  they  were  to  do  every  thing  in 
their  power  to  induce  Austria  to  join  the  alliance,  and 
to  induce  England  to  afford  pecuniary  aid  to  Prussia. 
The  Emperor  of  Russia  engaged  never  to  lay  down  his 
arms  until  all  the  possessions  wrested  from  Prussia  in 
the  campaigns  of  Jena  and  Auerstadt  were  restored. 
The  treaty  was  to  be  kept  secret  from  France  for  two 
months,  while  privately  communicated  to  England,  Aus- 
tria, and  Sweden.''^ 

"  Frederick  William,"  writes  Alison,  "  who  was  only 
brought  to  accede  to  this  treaty  with  the  utmost  diffi- 

'  Alison,  vol.  iv.  p.  45. 

•  Martin'3  Collections  dcTiait(5  dc  Pays,  sup.  iii.  234. 


104  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

culty,  was  well  aware  that  his  political  existence  was 
thenceforth  bound  up  in  the  success  of  Russia  in  the 
German  war.  His  first  words,  after  agreeing  to  the  al- 
liance, were,  '  Henceforth,  gentlemen,  it  is  an  affair  of 
life  and  death.'  Great  pains,  accordingly,  were  taken 
to  conceal  the  treaty  from  the  knowledge  of  the  French 
ambassador:  but,  notwithstanding  every  effort,  its  ex- 
istence soon  transpired;  and  it  was  thought  unneces- 
sary to  dissemble  any  longer.  The  French  Government, 
informed  of  these  facts,  which  were  not  unexpected,  re- 
plied to  the  Prussian  minister,  — 

"'As  long  as  the  chances  of  war  were  favorable  to 
lis,  your  court  remained  faithful  to  its  engagements  ;  but 
scarcely  had  the  premature  rigors  of  winter  brought 
back  our  armies  to  the  Niemen  than  the  defection  of 
Gen.  Do  York  excited  the  most  serious  suspicions.  His 
Majesty  the  Emperor  of  France  prefers  an  open  enemy 
to  an  ally  always  ready  to  abandon  him.  A  power 
whose  treaties  are  considered  binding  only  so  long  as 
they  are  deemed  serviceable  can  never  be  either  useful 
or  respectable.  The  finger  of  Providence  is  manifest 
in  the  events  of  last  winter.  It  has  produced  them,  to 
distinguish  the  true  from  the  false  friends  of  humanity. 
His  Majesty  feels  for  your  situation,  M.  Baron,  as  a  sol- 
dier and  a  man  of  honor,  on  being  obhged  to  sign  such 
a  declaration.' "  ^ 

The  Emperor  of  France,  speaking  upon  this  subject 
at  St.  Helena,  said,  — 

"  The  King  of  Prussia,  in  his  private  character,  is  a 
good,  lo3^al,  and  honorable  man  ;  but,  in  his  political  ca- 
pacity, he  was  unavoidably  forced  to  yield  to  necessity. 

*  Baron  Fain,  t.  i.  p.  260. 


FltEDERICK   WILLIAM  III.  105 

You  were  always  the  master  with  him  when  you  had 
force  on  your  side,  and  the  hand  uphfted."  ^ 

Frederick  -  Wilham  issued  a  proclamation,  informing 
his  subjects,  that,  if  they  would  volunteer  their  services, 
he  would,  as  a  reward,  confer  upon  them  a  constitution 
securing  to  them  many  civil  rights.^  Universal  enthu- 
siasm pervaded  the  nation.  In  the  terrible  conflict  which 
ensued,  the  Prussian  troops  took  a  conspicuous  part. 

At  Waterloo,  it  was  the  appearance  of  Blucher  with 
sixty-five  thousand  Prussians,  late  in  the  day,  upon  the 
field,  which  secured  the  victory  of  the  allies,  the  over- 
throw of  the  French  Empire,  and  the  re-establishment 
in  France  of  the  old  regime  of  the  Bourbons. 

"It  is  almost  certain,"  says  Gen.  Jomini,  "that 
Napoleon  would  have  remained  master  of  the  field  of 
battle,  but  for  the  arrival  of  sixty-five  thousand  Prus- 
sians in  his  rear." 

The  Prussian  army  returned  in  triumph  to  Berlin. 
And  now  the  people  demanded  the  promised  constitu- 
tion ;  but  the  Emperor  of  Austria  interposed. 

"  I  cannot  allow,"  he  said,  "  free  institutions  so  near 
my  throne.  They  will  excite  disaffection  among  my 
subjects.  I  shall  therefore  consider  the  granting  of  a 
constitution  as  a  declaration  of  war  against  me." 

The  Emperor  of  Russia  also  issued  an  equally  impera- 
tive remonstrance.  Thus  the  king  forfeited  his  pledge, 
being  unable  to  redeem  it  without  involving  his  king- 
dom in  a  desolating  and  hopeless  war. 

When   the   allies   met  at   Vienna   to    partition    out 


'  Las  Casas,  ii.  3C5. 

'  "This  was  a  gigantic  contest;  for  liis  enemies,  by  deceiving  their  subjoctj 
with  false  promises  of  liberty,  had  brouglit  whole  nations  agaiust  him."  —  Na^ 
pier'B  War  in  tlie  Peninsula,  vol.  iv.  p.  205. 


106  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

Europe  among  them,  they  were  not  generous  in  theil 
treatment  of  Prussia.  Though  the  kingdom  was  con- 
siderably enlarged,  the  treaties  of  1815  did  not  give 
compactness  to  her  irregular  territory.  The  kingdom 
was  divided  into  two  very  unequal  parts,  —  the  eastern 
and  the  western,  —  separated  by  the  German  States  of 
Hesse,  Hanover,  and  Brunswick.  With  but  a  third  of 
the  population  of  France,  Prussia  had  seven  hundred 
miles  more  of  frontier  to  guard.  One  extremity  of 
Prussia  reached  the  walls  of  the  French  fortress  of  Thi- 
onville,  on  the  Moselle,  far  west  from  the  Rhine ;  while 
the  other  extremity  was  bordered  by  the  Memel  and  the 
Niemen.  There  were,  in  reahty,  three  Prussias,  —  one 
in  Poland,  one  in  Germany,  and  one  on  the  Rhine. ^ 

After  these  terrible  convulsions,  Europe,  exhausted, 
enjoyed  repose  for  many  years.  Nothing  occurred  in 
Prussia  particularly  calling  for  historic  notice.  In  the 
year  1840,  Frederick  William  HI.  died,  in  the  sixty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age.  His  reign  was  long,  exceedingly 
disastrous  at  its  commencement ;  and  though,  at  its 
close,  he  left  Prussia  apparently  prosperous  and  happy, 
the  fires  of  approaching  revolution  were  slumbering  be- 
neath the  surface. 

The  sceptre  passed  to  the  king's  son,  Frederick  Wil- 
liam IV.  To  the  surprise  and  consternation  of  the 
king  and  court,  at  the  time  of  his  coronation,  the  Prus- 
sian diet  passed  a  motion,  by  a  majority  of  ninety  to  five, 
requesting  the  kmg  to  grant  a  new  law  for  the  organi- 
zation of  the  provincial  diets,  by  which  the  national 
representation  should  he  chosen  hy  the  people,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  royal  declaration  of  1815,  which  had 
never  yet  been  fulfilled. 

*  Encyclopsedia  Americana. 


FREDERICK  WILLIAM  III.  107 

After  an  embarrassing  delay,  the  king  declared  that 
*'  he  would  never  consent  to  a  general  popular  represen- 
tation, but  that  he  would  pursue  a  course  in  accordance 
with  historical  progress,  and  suited  to  German  nation- 
ality." 1 

Republican  principles  were  now  bursting  forth  in  all 
directions  throughout  the  kingdom  of  Prussia.  There 
were  loud  demands  that  the  censorship  of  the  press 
should  be  abolished,  that  a  general  parliament  of  the 
whole  kingdom  should  be  convoked,  and  that  there 
should  be  publicity  of  debates.  This  fermentation  of 
liberty  was  peculiarly  active  in  the  Rhine  j)rovinces. 
There  was  now  a  stead}-,  constant  struggle  for  many 
years,  without  revolutionary  violence,  —  on  the  part  of 
the  people  for  reform,  and  on  the  part  of  the  court  to 
check  the  progress  of  liberal  ideas. 

At  length,  in  the  year  1847,  the  demand  for  a  repre- 
sentative government  had  become  so  loud  and  universal, 
that  the  royal  cabinet  could  no  longer  venture  to  resist. 
On  the  3d  of  February  an  edict  was  issued,  convoking 
a  general  assembly  of  the  States  of  Prussia.  This  was 
an  immense  step  in  the  path  of  popular  liberty.  But 
still  the  spirit  of  the  court  was  manifest  in  the  royal 
speech  at  the  opening  of  the  assembly. 

"  I  have  convoked  tliis  assembly,"  said  the  king,  "  to 
make  myself  acquainted  with  the  wants  of  the  people  ; 
but  the  government  will  not  be  changed  in  its  essence. 
Tlie  absolute  monarchy  has  only  become  consulthi;/.  I 
do  not  deem  it  for  the  interest  of  my  j-jcople  to  adopt  a 
proper  representative  government.  I  consider  it  m}- 
duty  to  resist  the  levelling  and  innovating  spirit  of  the 

•  Annual  Ilistory,  vol.  xxiii.  p.  422. 


108  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

age.  I  will  never  permit  a  charter  to  intervene  between 
me  and  the  duty  I  owe  my  people.  I  will  never  yield 
to  the  rule  of  majorities,  and  will  resist  to  the  last 
extremity  the  ruinous  democratic  designs  which  are  the 
disgrace  and  peril  of  the  age."  ^ 

A  stormy  debate,  of  course,  followed  these  bold  decla- 
rations. There  were  three  hundred  and  fifty-three 
members  of  the  assembly.  Even  in  this  body,  the  royal 
party  —  that  is,  the  party  in  favor  of  absolute  govern- 
ment —  was  so  strong,  that  only  by  a  majority  of  fifty- 
three  could  a  vote  be  carried  in  favor  of  a  constitution. 
Germany  consisted  of  a  conglomeration  of  a  large 
number  of  States,  consisting  of  Idngdoms,  electorates, 
duchies,  and  principalities.  Each  State  was  independ- 
ent in  the  regulation  of  its  local  affairs,  but  bound  in 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with  the  great  con- 
federation. Austria  had  long  been  the  predominating 
power  in  this  league.  Though  the  crown  of  the  Ger- 
manic Empire  was  elective,  it  had  for  some  time  been 
almost  hereditary  in  the  royal  family  of  Austria.  Prussia 
had  become  exceedingly  jealous  of  the  domination  of 
Austria. 

A  party  had  arisen  in  Germany,  as  in  Italy,  calling 
for  unity.  Germany  contained  a  population  of  forty 
million  inhabitants,  and  had  two  thousand  walled  cities. 
It  was  affirmed,  that,  by  concentration  and  unity  like 
that  which  existed  in  France  and  Russia,  Germany 
might  become  the  controlling  power  in  Europe.  There 
were  many  leading  minds  in  Prussia  in  favor  of  this 
unification,  hoping  by  diplomatic  intrigue  to  secure  the 
imperial  crown  of  United  Germany  for  the  King  of 
Prussia. 

*  Annual  History,  vol.  xxx.  p.  325. 


FREDERICK   WILLIAM   IIL  109 

On  the  18th  of  March,  1818,  Frederick  William  IV. 
issued  a  royal  proclamation,  in  which  he  said,  — 

"  Above  all,  we  demand  that  Germany  shall  be  trans- 
formed from  a  confederation  of  States  into  one  federal 
State.  We  demand  a  general  military  system  for  Ger- 
many; and  we  will  endeavor  to  form  it  after  that  model 
under  which  our  Prussian  armies  reaped  such  unfading 
laurels  in  the  War  of  Independence.  We  demand  that 
the  German  army  be  assembled  under  one  single  federal 
banner ;  and  we  hope  to  see  a  federal  commander-in- 
chief  at  its  head,"  &c. 

This  remarkable  document  placed  the  King  of  Prussia 
at  the  head  of  the  party  in  favor  of  German  unity, 
wliich  was  then  considered  the  liberal  or  popular  party. 
Austria  was  by  no  means  disposed  thus  to  yield  her 
supremacy.  The  ultra  democrats  of  the  liberal  party 
regarded  this  movement  of  the  Prussian  king  as  a  mere 
feint  to  gain  power  which  he  would  wield  against 
them. 

On  the  evening  of  March  19,  1848,  —  the  day  after 
the  issuing  of  the  proclamation, — there  was  an  immense 
gathering  of  the  populace  in  King  Street,  opposite  the 
palace,  in  Berlin,  to  testify  their  gratitude  to  the  mon- 
arch who  had  thus  apparently  espoused  their  cause. 
When  the  king  appeared  upon  the  balcony,  the  sky  was 
rent  with  their  acclamations. 

A  squadron  of  cavalry  and  a  body  of  infantry  were 
drawn  up  under  the  windows  of  the  palace  to  preserve 
order.  The  disaffected  party  wished  to  provoke  the 
hostility  of  the  people  against  the  government  by  excit- 
ing a  collision  between  the  citizens  and  the  royal  troops. 
With  this  design,  in  the  midst  of  the  tumult  caused  by 
the  immense  gathermg,  some  pistol-shots  were  fired  at 


110  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

■%■ 

the  troops ;  and  an  eager  party  commenced  throwing  up 
barricades. 

The  cavalry,  without  drawing  their  swords  or  making 
a  charge,  moved  their  horses  forward,  upon  tlie  walk 
only,  to  clear  the  square.  Either  by  design  or  accident, 
two  muskets  were  discharged  from  the  ranks  of  the  in- 
fantry into  the  retreating  mass  of  the  populace.  The 
response  was  a  general  discharge  of  fire-arms  upon  the 
soldiers  from  numerous  insurgents  who  had  come  pre- 
pared for  that  purpose. 

The  insurrection  proved  to  be  very  formidable.  The 
students  of  the  university,  as  brave  as  they  were  intel- 
ligent, were  at  its  head.  A  battalion  of  the  guard  soon 
joined  them. 

"  The  cavalry  now  drew  their  sabres,  and  charged  the 
mob  in  good  earnest.  A  sanguinary  conflict  ensued ;  for 
the  insurgents  had  among  them  a  great  number  of  old 
soldiers  as  well  trained  to  arms  as  the  royal  troops,  and 
the  students  combated  with  the  utmost  resolution. 
The  conflict  continued  until  nightfall,  and  even  long 
after  it  had  become  dark,  by  the  light  of  the  burning 
houses,  several  of  which  were  broken  into,  and,  after 
])eing  sacked,  were  set  on  fire  by  the  inhabitants. 

"  Overwhelmed  with  terror  at  this  calamitous  event, 
which  cost  sixty  persons  their  lives,  besides  four  times 
that  number  wounded,  the  king  issued  a  proclamation, 
addressed  to  '  My  beloved  Berliners,'  in  which  he  ex- 
pressed the  utmost  regret  at  the  events  which  had 
occurred,  and  declared  that  the  conflict  had  arisen 
from  accident  and  the  shots  first  fired  from  King 
Street."  ' 

*  Alison,  vol.  vili.  p.  413. 


FKEDERICK   WILLIAM  IIL  111 

The  king  was  an  ultra  absolutist.  Ilis  cabinet  Avas  in 
perfect  sympathy  with  him  in  his  hatred  of  popular 
liberty.  The  more  intelligent  of  the  liberal  party  under- 
stood full  well  that  the  king,  in  advocating  German 
unity,  sought  only  to  consolidate  the  powers  of  despot- 
ism. He  wished  to  become  emperor  of  united  Germany, 
that  he  might  sway  a  sceptre  of  unrestrained  power  like 
that  wielded  by  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  and  the  Czar  of 
Russia.  He  could  thus  easily  silence  the  clamors  of  the 
people  for  reform.  But  the  king  was  greatly  alarmed 
by  the  indication  the  insurrection  gave  of  the  most  for- 
midable opposition  to  his  views.  There  was  infinite 
danger  that  the  insurrection  would  become  revolution 
unless  he  instantly  retraced  his  steps. 

"  The  next  morning,  the  king  gave  token  of  his  sub- 
mission by  accepting  the  resignation  of  his  whole  minis- 
ters, who  were  immediately  succeeded  by  a  new  cabinet, 
composed  of  known  liberals. 

"  On  the  20th,  a  general  amnesty  was  proclaimed ;  and 
the  whole  persons  in  custody  on  account  of  the  insurrec- 
tion were  liberated  without  bail ;  and  two  additional 
ministers  were  appointed,  known  to  belong  to  the  most 
advanced  liberals.  On  the  22d,  the  bodies  of  the  citizens 
who  had  been  killed  in  the  affray  on  the  evening  of  the 
18th  were  paraded  with  great  pomp  before  the  royal 
palace  ;  and  the  king  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the  hu- 
miliation of  inclining  his  head  before  the  lifeless  remains 
of  those  Avho  had  perished  under  the  sabres  of  his 
guards.  At  the  same  time,  the  king  pul)lis]ied  a  decree 
appointing  a  national  guard  in  the  capital,  and  ordered 
the  royal  troops  to  leave  the  city;  and  after  riding 
throuu'h    the    streets   in    the    German    inuiorni,    in    I  he 


112  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

course  of  which  he  made  repeated  protestations  of  his 
anxious  desire  for  German  freedom,  he  issued  two  proc- 
lamations, in  which  he  openly  announced  his  intention 
of  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  the  restored  and  united 
German  nation."  ^ 

^  Alison,  vol.  ill.  p.  413. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


STRUGGLES    FOR    LIBERTY. 

^  T  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose,  that,  in  the 
^^  J(3  great  conflicts  which  have  agitated  the 
^  %^1  P  monarchies  of  Europe,  there  has  been  a 
clearly-marked  line  of  division  between 
the  oppressed  people  on  the  one  side,  and 
the  despotic  kings  and  courts  on  the  other. 
The  people  have  been  in  antagonism  be- 
tween themselves ;  and  often  the  large  majority  have 
been  in  favor  of  the  old  feudal  despotisms.  The  people 
in  Prussia  were  thus  divided.  The  Catholic  party, 
which  was  quite  numerous,  and  which  embraced  a  large 
part  of  the  peasantry,  strongly  opposed  the  liberal 
movement.  The  Poles  were  mostly  in  favor  of  it.  As 
a  general  rule,  the  liberals,  as  they  were  called,  were 
confined  to  the  large  towns.  Tlie  peasantry  were 
opposed  to  change. 

Wliile  Prussia  was  in  this  state  of  agitation,  the 
newly-appointed  assembly  met,  on  the  2d  of  April,  to 
draw  up  a  constitution.  The  king,  in  opening  the 
assembly,  said, — 

"  His  Majesty  has  promised  a  real  constitutional 
charter,  and  we  are  assembled  to  lay  the  foundation- 
stone   of  the   ediiice.      We  hope   that  the  work  will 

8  113 


114  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

proceed  rapidly,  and  that  it  will  perfect  a  constitution 
for  the  whole  G-erman  race.''''  The  following  were  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  constitution,  presented  by 
the  king,  and  adopted  by  the  assembly  :  — 

1.  Every  householder  twenty-four  years  of  age  was 
entitled  to  a  vote  for  representation  in  the  lower  house. 

2.  Every  five  hundred  voters  could  choose  an  elector. 

3.  Every  householder  thirty  years  of  age  was  eligible 
as  a  deputy. 

4.  Two  deputies  were  to  be  chosen  by  every  sixty 
thousand  inhabitants. 

The  king  also  promised  to  lay  before  them  a  bill 
providing  for  freedom  of  the  press,  personal  liberty,  the 
right  of  meeting  and  petitioning,  the  publicity  of  judi- 
cial proceedings,  trial  by  jury,  and  equal  ci\T.l  and 
political  rights  for  all  persons. 

These  regulations  referred  to  Prussia  alone,  and 
could  bind  no  other  State  of  German3^  Still  the  agita- 
tion in  Prussia  extended  throughout  all  the  German 
States. 

The  legislature  was  to  consist  of  two  houses.  The 
first,  or  senate,  was  composed  of  the  princes  of  the 
blood  royal,  and  sixty  peers  appointed  by  the  king  ;  and 
also  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  members,  to  be  chosen 
by  the  people.  The  dignity  of  the  sixty  peers  was 
hereditary.  The  others  were  chosen  for  eight  years. 
No  commoner  could  be  chosen  who  was  not  in  receipt 
of  an  income  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars. 

The  members  of  the  lower  house  were  to  be  elected 
for  four  years,  and  were  subject  to  no  property  qualifica- 
tion. This  constitution,  though  a  great  advance  fi'om 
the  absolutism  of  the  past,  did  by  no  means  satisfy  the 
democratic  leaders.      During  the  whole  summer,  there 


STRUGGLES   FOR  LIBERTY.  115 

vrere  excited  gatherings  of  the  people,  and  violent  and 
inflammatory  debates.  There  were  mobs  in  the  streets 
of  Berlin,  and  many  acts  of  violence  were  perpetrated. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  king  resolved  on  very 
energetic  repressive  measures.  Assuming  the  pretence 
of  a  general  review  of  the  royal  forces,  fifty  thousand 
troops  Avere  assembled  at  Potsdam.  Gen.  von  Yv^rangel, 
a  very  determined  royalist,  was  appointed  to  command 
them.  The  review  took  place  on  the  22d  of  September, 
1848.  In  an  order  of  the  da,j,  the  general  thus  ad- 
dressed the  troops  :  — 

"  The  king  has  honored  me  with  the  highest  proof  of 
his  confidence  in  giving  me  command  of  all  the  troops. 
I  will  establish  order  when  it  is  disturbed.  The  troops 
are  stanch,  their  swords  are  sharpened,  and  their  mus- 
kets are  loaded.  It  is  not  against  you,  men  of  Berlin, 
that  this  is  done,  but  to  protect  you.  Grass  is  growing 
in  your  streets.  Your  houses  are  empty.  Your  shops 
are  full  of  goods,  but  void  of  purchasers.  This  must  be 
changed  ;  and  it  shall  bo  changed.  I  swear  it  to  you ; 
and  a  Wrangel  never  yet  failed  in  keeping  his  word." 

The  Burgher  Guard,  a  body  somewhat  corresponding 
with  our  militia,  were  in  sympathy  with  the  people. 
Though  this  was  the  natural  force  to  be  called  upon  to 
preserve  order  in  the  city,  it  could  not  be  relied  upon  by 
the  king.  In  a  discussion  which  took  place  upon  the 
articles  of  the  constitution,  it  was  decided,  by  a  vote  of 
two  hundred  and  seventeen  to  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
four,  that,  in  the  title  given  to  the  king,  the  words,  "  by 
the  grace  of  God,"  should  be  omitted.  Tliis  was  very 
distinctly  announcing  the  democratic  principle,  that  the 
king's  sole  title  to  the  throne  was  the  will  of  the  jyoplc. 

Nearly  all  branches  of    business   were    thrown   into 


116  HISTORY   OP  PRUSSIA. 

confusion  by  these  distractions  and  agitations.  The 
chief  manufactories  were  closed.  Tliousauds  were 
without  employment  and  without  bread.  The  assem- 
bly, chosen  by  popular  suffrage,  had  a  decided  majority 
in  favor  of  reform.  This  majority  kept  up  a  constant 
warfare  against  the  Idng  and  court,  confident  of  sup- 
port, should  it  be  needed,  from  the  Burgher  Guard  and 
the  populace  at  Berlin. 

On  the  31st  of  October,  18-18,  the  assembly  passed  a 
resolution,  "  that  all  Prussians  are  equal  before  the  law ; 
that  neither  privileges,  titles,  nor  rank,  are  to  exist  in 
the  State  ;  and  that  the  nohility  are  abolished^  In  fact, 
the  democratic  clubs  now  governed  the  assembly,  con- 
trolling its  measures  by  the  menaces  of  the  mob. 
"  Not  content  with  the  majority  which  they  already 
possessed  in  the  assembly,  the  mob  from  without,  with 
the  avowed  purpose  of  intimidating  the  conservative 
members,  broke  into  its  hall,  amply  provided  with  ropes, 
nails,  and  nooses,  as  a  preparation  for  summary  hang- 
ing."i 

The  king  speedily  developed  the  resolute  measures 
he  had  decided  to  adopt.  He  dismissed  his  liberal  min- 
istry, and  appointed,  defiantly,  an  administration  of 
the  most  decided  conservatists.  It  was  certain  that  a 
collision  would  soon  occur.  The  king,  having  inaugu- 
rated the  new  ministrj^,  sent  in  a  royal  decree  to  the 
assembly,  stating  that  the  insubordination  in  the  streets 
of  Berlin  was  such,  that  he  transferred  the  sittings  to 
Brandenburg. 

A  scene  of  fearful  violence  ensued.  The  monarchical 
party,  fifty  in  number,  withdrew  with  the  president. 

*  Alison,  vol.  viii.  p.  423. 


STRUGGLES   FOR  LIBERTY.  117 

The  rest,  in  a  state  of  intense  excitement,  passed  a 
series  of  indignant  remonstrances,  and  declared  them- 
selves in  permanence.  Tliirty  of  the  members  remained 
in  the  house  all  night. 

The  next  morning,  as  the  members  began  to  arrive, 
they  found  the  building  surrounded  by  royal  troops, 
who  were  ordered  to  allow  any  one  to  go  out,  but  none 
to  go  in.  The  Burgher  Guard  warmly  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  assembly.  The  majority,  two  hundred 
and  twenty-five  in  number,  which  remained  after  the 
withdrawal  of  the  monarchical  members,  re-assembled, 
at  an  early  hour  next  morning,  in  the  hall  of  the  Schiit- 
zcn  Gild.  Before  daylight,  a  numerous  body  of  the 
Burgher  Guard,  well  armed,  had  met  around  that  hall 
for  the  protection  of  the  assembl}'. 

The  king  immediately  issued  a  proclamation,  dissolv- 
ing the  Burgher  Guard,  and  ordering  them  to  give  up 
their  arms.  No  attention  was  paid  to  the  order.  The 
order  was  reiterated  more  peremptorily ;  thirty  thou- 
sand royal  troops  were  brought  into  the  city ;  and  Ber- 
lin was  declared  in  a  state  of  siege.  As  there  were  but 
fifteen  thousand  Burgher  Guards,  and  the  royal  troops 
were  incomparably  better  disciplined,  the  Guard  dis- 
persed, and  a  blood}''  contest  was  avoided. 

The  next  day,  the  assembly  again  met  in  the  Schiit- 
zcn  Gildhall.  An  officer  from  Gen.  Wrangel  ordered 
them  to  disperse  as  an  illegal  assembly.  "Never,  till 
forced  by  arms !  "  was  the  cry  of  the  assembly.  The 
vice-president  was  in  the  chair.  A  body  of  soldiers  en- 
tered. Four  officers  quietly  lifted  up  the  chair  upon 
which  the  vice-president  was  seated,  and  carried  ii, 
with  its  occupant,  into  the  street.  .  The  members  fol- 
lowed in  a  state  of  great  exasperation. 


118  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

The  assembly  made  several  other  efforts  to  meet ; 
but  it  was  always  dispersed  by  the  soldiery,  witliout 
bloodshed.  T]ie  months  rolled  on,  fraught  with  in- 
trigue, agitation,  peril,  and  distress.  The  people,  in 
their  blindness,  were  often  warring  against  their  own 
interests.  The  court  was  struggling  to  retain  the  des- 
potic power  which  had  descended  to  it  through  the 
dreary  ages. 

Throughout  all  the  States  of  Germany,  there  had  been 
a  struggle  between  the  democratic  and  monarchical  party 
in  reference  to  the  choice  of  the  Emperor  of  the  Ger- 
man Confederacy.  The  democrats  wished  to  have  any 
man  of  ability  eligible :  the  monarchists  wished  to  con- 
fine the  choice  to  one  of  royal  blood. 

In  the  diet  at  Frankfort,  in  1849,  it  was  voted,  by  258 
to  211,  that  the  choice  should  be  limited  to  one  of  the 
ruling  sovereigns  of  Germany.  It  was  then  moved 
that  the  imperial  crown  should  be  offered  to  the  King 
of  Prussia.  After  an  exciting  debate  of  eleven  days 
upon  this  subject,  it  was  announced,  by  a  vote  of  290 
out  of  558,  that  the  King  of  Prussia  was  chosen  em- 
peror. 

"  The  time  was  when  this  flattering  offer  would  have 
been  joyfully  accepted ;  but  time  had  worked  many 
changes.  The  imperial  crown,  as  now  tendered,  was 
very  different  from  the  imperial  crown  as  originally 
coveted.  Being  elective,  it  more  nearly  resembled  the 
presidency  of  America,  or  the  empire  of  imperial  Rome, 
than  the  old  Germanic  diadem. 

"Austria  had  openly  declared  against  the  union  of 
all  the  confederacy  under  one  head;  and  there  could 
be  little  doubt  that  the  acceptance  of  the  imperial 
crown  by  Frederick  William  would  at  once  bring  on  a 


STRUGGLES   FOR   LIBERTY.  110 

war  with  that  power,  backed  by  Russia,  with  whom  she 
was  now  in  closest  alliance.  Influenced  by  these  con- 
siderations, the  king  determined  to  decline  the  proffered 
honor."  1 

The  new  constitution  prepared  by  the  general  as- 
sembly at  Frankfort  was  rejected*  by  Austria,  Bavaria, 
Hanover,  and  Saxony.  It  was,  however,  received  by 
twenty-one  of  the  lesser  States  of  Northern  Germany. 
These  minor  States  concurred,  by  a  collective  vote,  in  an 
address  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  urging  him  to  accept 
the  proffered  dignity. 

All  Germany  was  thrown  into  confusion  by  these  dis- 
cussions ;  and  there  were  insurrections,  which  were 
only  quelled  by  the  sword.  It  was  manifest  that  the 
constitution  of  Frankfort  could  not  be  accepted.  The 
Kings  of  Prussia,  Hanover,  and  Saxony,  met,  and  drew 
up,  with  great  precision,  a  constitution  of  a  hundred 
and  ninety  articles.  By  this  arrangement,  the  imperial 
crown  was  made  hereditary  in  the  Prussian  monarchy. 
The  liberals,  in  derision,  called  this  the  "  Constitution 
of  the  Three  Kings."  Neither  Austria  nor  Bavaria 
would  accept  it.     Thus  it  failed. 

While  the  King  of  Prussia  was  thus  struggling  to 
gain  the  ascendency  in  Germany,  the  spirit  of  revolu- 
tion continued  to  agitate  his  kingdom.  A  new  cham- 
ber of  deputies  was  chosen,  which  consisted  strongly 
of  democrats.  The  representatives  boldly  declared 
themselves  against  the  government.  The  challenge 
tlius  thrown  down  was  accepted  l)y  the  court.  On  tlio 
29th  of  April,  1849,  a  circular  was  addressed  by  the 
Prussian  cabinet  to  all  the  States  of  Germany.  In  this 
it  was  said,  — 

*  Alison,  vol.  viii.  p.  431. 


120  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

"  Prussia  engages  to  oppose  the  revolutionary  agita- 
tion of  the  times  with  the  utmost  energy,  and  promises 
to  furnish  the  other  governments  with  timely  assistance 
for  the  same  purpose.  The  danger  is  a  common  one. 
Prussia  will  not  betray  its  mission  to  interfere,  in  the 
hour  of  peril,  wherever  and  in  any  manner  it  may  deem 
necessary.  It  is  convinced  that  a  limit  must  be  put  to 
the  revolution  of  Germany.  This  cannot  be  effected 
by  mere  passive  resistance :  it  must  be  done  by  active 
interference."  ^ 

Thus  the  King  of  Prussia  endeavored  to  place  him- 
self at  the  head  of  the  party  opposed  to  reform ;  and 
thus  he  called  upon  all  throughout  Germany,  who  were 
in  sympathy  with  his  views,  to  rally  to  his  support.  He 
wished  for  a  united  Germany,  that  he  might  consoli- 
date the  powers  of  absolutism,  and,  with  the  tramp  of 
his  armies,  crush  out  the  revolutionary  spirit.  The  lib- 
erals wished  for  a  united  Germany,  that  republican 
freedom  might  work  in  unison,  and  that  their  nation 
might  be  brought  more  in  harmony  with  the  United 
States  of  America. 

The  king  invited  a  congress  of  all  the  German 
princes  to  meet  in  Berlin  in  May,  1849.  Twenty-two 
of  the  minor  princes  came  ;  but  Austria,  Bavaria, 
Wurtemberg,  and  Saxony  declined  the  invitation.  Tlie 
assembly  was  a  failure. 

An  American  gentleman,  who  was  in  Berlin  at  that 
time,  gives  the  following  interesting  account  of  the 
scenes  which  he  witnessed.  This  was  in  1848,  when 
William  I.  was  not  yet  king,  but  only  crown  prince,  the 
king's  brother.  We  give  the  narrative  in  his  words, 
though  abbreviated :  — 

»  Annual  Register,  1849,  p.  849. 


STRUGGLES  FOR  LIBERTY.  121 

"  The  king,  in  those  days,  was  his  poor  Majesty  Clic- 
quot, as  he  was  called, — a  man  not  without  literary  cul- 
tivation, of  a  great  deal  of  maudlin  sentimentality,  and 
a  prodigious  capacity  for  drinking  champagne ;  but 
champagne  and  political  sentimentality  were  his  bane 
and  ruin.  It  was  a  great  pity  both  for  him  and  his 
country  ;  but  his  Majesty  was  not  respected. 

"  For  many  days,  in  Berlin,  there  had  been  thunder  in 
the  air.  It  was  evident  that  something  impended.  The 
reading-rooms  along  the  pleasant  street,  Unter  den  Lin- 
den, and  all  the  hier  loJcals,  were  full  of  attentive  students 
of  th'j  papers,  who  discussed  the  chances  of  events.  At 
leng'li,  the  final  news  came.^  The  first  thing  that  we 
heard  in  Berlin  was,  that  the  government  was  ready,  and 
had  plenty  of  soldiers.  Probabl}'  it  knew  the  necessity: 
for  the  city  had  an  air  of  suppressed  excitement ;  and 
the  feeling  was  such,  that  troops  of  the  cavalry  of  the 
paternal  government  paraded  the  streets  at  night  to 
help  everybody  keep  quiet. 

"  But  the  amazing  and  sudden  success  of  the  revolu- 
tion in  France  put  all  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe  in  a 
panic ;  and  they  began  to  make  concessions  to  the  people. 
It  was  pitiful  to  see,  because  it  implied  a  kind  of  con- 
scious robber  relation  between  the  rulers  and  the  nations. 
The  kings  seemed  like  pirates  who  had  been  overtaken, 
and,  in  mortal  terror  at  the  probable  consequences  of 
their  crimes,  proposed  to  disgorge  their  plunder.  They 
professed  willingness  to  restore  large  shares  of  the  treas- 
ures of  liberty  that  they  had  stolen ;  and  were  evidently 
much  more  conscious,  at  that  moment,  of  the  power  of 
the  people,  than  of  their  '  God-given  '  authority.     King 

*  Tlio  news  of  tlie  revolution  in  France  of  181S,  rumors  of  wliich  hiul  iilrcaily 
spread  through  all  Kuropc,  creating  iutcubO  excitement. 


122  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

Clicquot  went  with  the  rest,  and  promised  well :  there 
should  be  a  constitution,  and  all  the  modern  improve- 
ments, added  to  the  political  edifice  of  Prussia.  There 
were  optimists  in  those  starthng  days,  who  thought  that 
Europe  was  to  be  republicanized  by  the  mere  force  of 
reason ;  and  that  kings  were  about  gracefully  to  own 
themselves  in  the  wrong,  and  to  retire. 

"  But  suddenly,  one  Saturday  afternoon  in  Berlin,  the 
mere  force  of  reason  gave  way.  The  writer  was  dining 
with  some  student  friends  at  the  old  Belvidere.  While 
we  Avere  yet  dining,  anxious  faces  appeared ;  and  we  were 
told  that  trouble  was  brewing.  A  crowd  of  people  had 
been  to  the  royal  palace  to  demand  arms,  and  they  had 
been  refused.  The  revolution  was  coming :  the  tidal 
wave  was  even  now  lifting  us.  We  all  arose,  and  went 
out.  A  huge  concourse  of  men  was  swiftly  swarming 
from  the  palace  into  the  broad  street.  As  it  passed 
along  like  a  dark  cloud,  covering  every  thing  with 
shadow,  doors  and  windows  were  closed  ;  and  shop-keep- 
ers hurried  to  make  all  fast.  Before  the*"  palace  of  the 
Prince  of  Prussia,  his  present  Majesty  King  William,  a 
carriage  was  standing;  and,  the  moment  the  crowd  had 
passed,  the  Princess  of  Prussia,  the  present  queen,  and 
a  beautiful  woman,  came  out  with  children,  and  stepped 
quickly  into  the  carriage,  which  drove  off  rapidly  to- 
ward the  king's  palace.  The  crowd  swept  on  ;  and  the 
leaders  of  revolution  knew  that  the  hour  had  come. 

"  As  we  strolled  curiously  along,  we  saw  men  with 
clubs  and  iron  bars,  hurrying  by,  evidently,  to  a  rendez- 
vous ;  and  officers  on  horseback  clattered  through  the 
streets,  which  all  carriages  had  deserted.  The  leaders 
knew  that  no  time  could  be  safely  lost ;  and  by  three 
o'clock  barricades  were  rising  in  the  chief  streets  that 


STRUGGLES   FOR  LIBERTY.  123 

led  into  Unter  den  Linden.  We  turned  into  our  room 
in  tlie  Fricdrich  Strasse,  and  at  the  same  moment  saw 
fi'om  the  window  that  a  crowd  had  brought  the  materi- 
als to  build  a  barricade  just  beneath  it. 

"  The  barricade  was  soon  built ;  and  the  sound  of 
firing  grew  heavier  and  nearer.  We  heard  the  approach 
of  soldiers  advancing  upon  the  barricade.  At  the  same 
ujoment,  the  sloping  roof  of  the  .house  opposite  the 
window  began  to  heave,  and  Avas  finally  burst  through 
by  the  iron  bars  of  the  insurgents,  who,  completely  pro- 
tected by  the  eaves  from  the  fire  of  the  soldiers  in  the 
street,  could  throw  down  upon  them  every  kind  of 
deadly  missile.  But  the  clear  voice  of  the  commanding 
officer  ordered,  loud  enough  for  all  on  the  neighboring 
houses  to  hear,  that  the  troops  should  fire  upon  every 
person  who  appeared  at  a  wiudoAv;  and  he  sent  a  de- 
tachment into  the  opposite  house.  The  barricade  was 
then  assaulted  and  carried.  But  for  hours  the  alarm-bells 
rang,  and  the  sharp  volleys  of  musketry  rattled,  and  the 
dull  heavy  cannon  thundered  and  shook  the  air.  A 
great  battle  was  going  on  in  the  city.  The  moon  shone  ; 
the  white  clouds  drifted  through  the  sky ;  and  there  was 
no  other  sound  than  that  of  the  bells,  the  muskets,  and 
the  cannon. 

"  The  next  day,  .the  city  Avas  like  a  city  that  had  been 
carried  by  assault.  The  soldiers  had  taken  the  barri- 
cades, and  held  the  streets.  But  there  was  a  universal 
feeling  that  the  people  were  strong  enough  to  bring 
King  Clicquot  to  terms ;  and  there  was  bitter  hatred  of 
the  Prince  of  Prussia,  who  had  counselled  and  directed 
the  operations  of  the  night.  The  king  issued  a  senti- 
mental proclamation  to  his  Uehe  Berliner  (liis  dear  Ber- 
liiiese).     But  the  dead  were  carried  to  the  royal  palace, 


124  HISTOEY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

and  brought  into  tlie  court ;  and  his  poor  Majesty  was 
compelled  to  come  to  the  window  and  look  upon  his 
subjects,  whom  he  was  plainly  told  that  he  had  mur- 
dered. He  wept  and  promised  ;  and  it  was  understood 
that  his  brother  sharply  reproached  him  for  not  main- 
taining his  prerogative  by  the  grace  of  God.  But  there 
was  a  Idnd  of  national  guard  organized  and  armed. 
There  was  a  solemn  and  triumphal  funeral  of  the  dead,; 
and  Humboldt  walked  in  the  procession  among  the  na- 
tional mourners.  There  was  a  little  feeble  talk  of  Clic- 
quot as  Emperor  of  Germany ;  but,  after  the  ludicrous 
and  brief  empire  of  the  Archduke  John,  the  last  of  poor 
Clicquot's  wits  ebbed  away.  Robert  Blum,  the  popular 
leader,  had  been  shot ;  and  the  Prince  of  Prussia,  becom- 
ing Idng,  stoutly  held  that  he  owed  his  crown  to  God, 
and  was  responsible  to  him,  and  not  to  the  people."  ^ 

*  Harper's  Magazine,  November,  1870. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


KING    WILLIAM    I. 

riUS  the  tumult  of  affairs  coutinucd,  ever 
varying,  and  yet  ever  essentially  the 
same,  until  the  year  1857.  The  king', 
Frederick  William  IV.,  then  ^ave  indu- 
bitable evidences  of  insanity :  it  conse- 
quently became  necessary  for  him  to 
withdraw  from  the  government.  As  he 
had  no  children,  his  next  brother,  William,  was  declared 
regent.  William  was  exceedingly  unpopular,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  openly-avowed  advocacy  of  absolutism, 
and  his  implacable  hostility  to  popular  reform.  For 
four  years,  the  Crown  Prince,  William,  reigned  as 
regent;  then,  upon  the  death  of  his  brother,  he  was 
crowned  king  on  the  2d  of  January,  18G1. 

William  I.,  who  now  occupies  the  throne,  was  the 
second  son  of  Frederick  William  III.  He  was  born 
on  the  22d  of  March,  1797.  In  1829,  he  married  the 
Duchess  Catharine  of  Saxe -Weimar.  He  has  two 
children.  The  eldest,  the  Crown  Prince,  Frederick 
William  Nicholas  Charles,  was  born  Oct.  18,  18.')1. 
Jle  was  married  to  Victoria,  Princess  Royal  of 
(h-eat  Britain,  on  the  2oth  of  January,  1858.  Tho 
younger  child,  the  Princess   Louisa   Maria,  was   born 

125 


126  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA, 

Dec.  3,  1838 ;  and  married,  on  tlie  20th  of  September, 
1856,  the  Grand  Duke  Frederick  of  Baden. 

The  coronation  of  the  king  Look  place  in  the  ancient 
town  of  Konigsberg.  In  this  city,  which  is  situated 
upon  one  of  the  inlets  of  the  Baltic  Sea,  there  is  an 
antique  castle,  very  imposing  in  its  structure,  which 
overlooks  and  commands  the  city.  In  the  chapel 
of  this  venerable  ecUfice,  the  ceremony  of  coronation 
took  place. 

There  was  no  enthusiasm  on  the  occasion.  The 
king,  who  had  already  attained  the  age  of  sixty-four, 
a  bluff,  stern  man,  fully  conscious  that  he  was  hated 
by  the  populace,  whom  he  despised,  apparently  made 
no  efforts  to  secure  popularity.  He  was  far  too  proud 
to  seek  the  applause  of  the  canaille.  An  eye-witness 
thus  graphically  describes  the  scene  at  the  coro- 
nation :  — 

"  The  first  time  I  saw  the  king  was  when  he  rode 
in  procession  tlu'ough  the  ancient  city,  some  two  or 
three  days  before  the  performance  of  the  coronation. 
He  seemed  a  fine,  dignified,  handsome,,  somewhat  bluff 
old  man,  with  gray  hairs  and  gray  mustache,  and  an 
expression,  which,  if  it  did  not  denote  intellectual 
power,  had  much  of  cheerful  strength  and  the  charm 
of  a  certain  kind  of  frank  manhood  about  it.  He 
rode  well,  —  riding  is  one  of  the  accomplishments  in 
which  kings  almost  always  excel,  —  and  his  military 
costume  became  him. 

"  Certainly  no  one  was  just  then  disposed  to  be  very 
enthusiastic  about  him :  but  every  one  was  inclined  to 
make  the  best  of  the  sovereign  and  of  the  situation ;  to 
forget  the  past,  and  to  look  hopefully  into  the  future. 
The   manner  in  which  the  coronation   ceremony  was 


KING   WILLIAM  I.  ll>7 

couducted,  aud  the  speech  which  the  king  delivered 
soon  after  it,  produced  a  terrible  shock  of  disappoint- 
ment ;  for  in  each  the  king  manifested  that  he  under- 
stood the  crown  to  be  a  gift,  not  from  his  people,  but 
from  Heaven. 

"  To  me,  the  ceremonies  in  the  chapel,  splendid  and 
picturesque  as  was  the  mise  en  sceiie,  appeared  absurd, 
and  even  ridiculous.  The  king,  bedizened  in  a  regal 
costume  which  suggested  Drury  Lane  or  Niblo's 
Garden,  lifting  a  crown  from  off  the  altar,  and,  without 
intervention  of  human  aid  other  than  his  own  hands, 
l)lacing  it  upon  his  head  to  signify  that  he  had  his 
crown  from  Heaven,  not  from  man ;  then  putting 
another  crown  upon  the  head  of  his  wife  to  show  that 
she  derived  her  dignities  from  him ;  and  then  turning 
round,  and  brandishing  a  gigantic  sword,  as  symbolical 
of  his  readiness  to  defend  state  and  people,  —  all  this 
seemed  to  me  too  suggestive  ot  the  opera  comique 
to  suit  the  simple  dignity  of  the  handsome  old 
soldier. 

"  Far  better  and  nobler  did  he  look  in  his  military 
uniform,  and  with  his  spiked  helmet,  as  he  sat  on  his 
horse  in  the  streets,  than  when,  arrayed  in  crimson 
velvet  cloak  and  other  such  stage  paraphernalia  of 
conventional  royalty,  he  stood  in  the  castle  chapel,  the 
central  figure  in  a  ceremonial  of  mediajval  splendor,  and 
worse  than  medieval  tediousness."  ^ 

The  king  is  a  man  of  unusuall}^  fine  physique.  Ho 
is  of  majestic  and  Avell-proportioned  form ;  and  his 
finely-chiselled  features  are  expressive  of  that  indomita- 
ble resolution  which  has  characterized  every  act  of  lii^ 

*  ilr.  Justin  McCarthy,  in  Galaxy  for  October,  1870. 


128 


HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 


life.  There  was  present  on  this  occasion  Marsha] 
McMahon,  Duke  of  Magenta.  He  had  just  returned 
from  the  campaign  in  Italy  against  the  Austrians, 
where  he  had  won  his  title  and  European  renown. 
At  the  coronation,  he  represented  the  empire  of 
France. 

"There  was  great  curiosity  among  the  Konigsberg 
public  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  military  hero ;  and,  al- 
though even  Prussians  could  hardly  be  supposed  to  take 
delight  in  a  fame  acquired  at  the  expense  of  other 
Germans,  I  remember  being  much  struck  with  the 
quiet,  candid  good  humor  with  which  people  acknowl- 
edged that  he  had  beaten  their  countrymen.  There 
was,  indeed,  a  little  vexation  and  anger  felt  when  some 
of  the  representatives  of  Posen,  the  Prussian  Poland, 
cheered  somewhat  too  significantly  for  McMahon  as 
he  drove  in  his  carriage  from  the  palace. 

"  The  Prussians  generally  felt  annoyed  that  the  Poles 
should  have  thus  publicly  and  ostentatiously  demon- 
strated their  sympathy  with  France,  and  their  admiration 
of  the  French  general  who  had  defeated  a  German 
army.  But  except  for  this  httle  ebullition  of  feeling, 
natural  enough  on  both  sides,  McMahon  was  a  popular 
figure  at  the  Idng's  coronation;  and,  before  the  cere- 
monies were  over,  the  king  himself  had  become  any 
thing  but  popular. 

"  The  foreigners  liked  him,  for  the  most  part,  because 
his  manners  were  plain,  frank,  hearty,  and  agreeable ; 
and  to  foreigners  it  was  matter  of  little  consequence 
what  he  said  or  did  in  accepting  his  crown.  But  the 
Germans  winced  under  his  blunt  repudiation  of  the 
principle  of  popular  sovereignty;  and,  in  the  minds 
of  some  alarmists,  painful  and  odious  memories  began 


KING  WILLIAM  L  129 

to  revive,  and  transform  themselves  into  terrible  omens 
for  the  future."  ^ 

William  I.  had  but  a  bloody  record  to  present. 
Every  uprising  of  the  people  in  behalf  of  liberty, 
whether  in  Prussia  or  in  any  other  of  the  States,  he  had 
been  eager  to  cut  down  with  the  sword.  More  than 
once,  his  dragoons  had  crimsoned  the  pavements  of  the 
streets  of  Berlin  with  the  blood  of  its  citizens  ;  and 
when,  in  Hanover,  in  Saxony,  in  Baden,  the  people 
attempted  by  violence  to  effect  that  reform  which  they 
found  themselves  unable  to  attain  by  peaceful  means, 
the  helmeted  squadrons  of  Prince  William  hewed  them 
down,  and  trampled  them  in  the  dust. 

"  This  pleasant,  genial,  gray-haired  man,"  writes  Mr. 
McCarthy,  "  whose  smile  had  so  much  of  honest  frank- 
ness, and  even  a  certain  simple  sweetness,  about  it,  had 
a  grim  and  blood-stained  history  behind  him.  The  blood 
of  the  Berliners  was  purple  on  those  hands  which  now 
gave  so  kindly  and  cheery  a  welcome  to  all  comers.  The 
revolutionists  of  Baden  held  in  bitter  hate  the  stern 
prince,  who  was  so  unscrupulous  in  his  mode  of  crush- 
ing out  agitation. 

"  From  Cologne  to  Konigsberg,  from  Hamburg  to 
Trieste,  all  Germans  had  for  years  had  reason,  only  too 
strong,  to  regard  William,  Prince  of  Prussia,  as  the  most 
resolute  and  relentless  foe  of  popular  liberty.  During 
the  greater  part  of  his  life,  the  things  he  promised  to  do, 
and  did,  were  not  such  as  free  men  could  approve.  He 
set  out  in  life  with  a  general  detestation  of  liberal  prin- 
ciples and  of  any  thing  which  suggested  popular  revolu- 
tion." 

*  Mr.  Justin  McCartliy,  Galaxy,  October,  1870. 

a 


130  HISTORY  OF  PEUSSIA. 

King  William  is  not  regarded  by  any  who  know  him 
as  a  man  of  superior  abilities,  or  of  much  intelHgence. 
He  has  a  dogged  firmness  of  character,  which  his  friends 
call  decision,  and  his  enemies  stigmatize  as  obstinacy. 
His  strongest  mental  development  consists  of  a  cling- 
ing to'  the  despotism  of  the  past,  and  a  horror  of  reform. 
In  the  year  1815,  he  was  one  of  the  princes  who  entered 
Paris  with  the  allies  as  they  trampled  beneath  iron  hoofs 
the  first  empire  in  France.  Since  then,  he  has  seemed 
conscientiously  to  deem  it  his  divinely-appointed  mis- 
sion to  keep  the  people  in  subjection. 

Frederick  William  IV.  was  one  of  the  most  vacillatino- 
of  men.  He  was  kind-hearted,  and  sought  the  happiness 
of  the  people,  but  had  not  sufficient  force  of  character 
to  mark  out  and  pursue  any  clearly-defined  policy. 
William  I.  is  one  of  the  most  inflexible  monarchs  who 
ever  sat  upon  a  throne.  The  fundamental  principle  of 
his  reign  seems  to  be,  that  there  shall  he  no  innovations. 
The  poUcy  of  the  government  is,  not  to  bend  to  meet  the 
exigencies  of  modern  times,  but  to  force  those  exigen- 
cies to  frame  and  mould  themselves  in  accordance 
with  the  existing  government. 

"  Wilham  I.,"  writes  Mr.  McCarthy,  "  was  for  many 
years  a  downright,  stupid,  despotic  old  feudalist.  At 
one  of  his  brother's  councils  he  flung  his  sword  upon 
the  table,  and  vowed  that  he  would  rather  appeal  to  that 
weapon  than  consent  to  rule  over  a  people  who  dared 
to  claim  the  right  of  voting  their  own  taxes." 

Unattractive  as  appears  the  character  of  William  I., 
he  has  secured  a  certain  degree  of  respect  by  the  un- 
questionable and  almost  religious  sincerity  with  which 
he  pursues  his  inflexible  course.  The  simplicity  of  his 
mode  of  living  and  of  his  address  invested  the  bluff, 


KING  WILLIAM  I.  131 

unpolished  soldier  with  a  certain  charm  over  the  minds 
of  the  people.  The  gray-haired  old  man  could  often  be 
seen  by  the  passers  in  the  streets,  sitting  at  one  of 
the  windows  of  his  palace,  reading  or  writing. 

It  is  reported  that  domestic  discord  disturbs  the  repose 
of  the  palace.  In  the  celebrated  diary  of  Varnhagen 
von  Ense,  which  seems  to  be  authentic,  and  which  very 
graphically  describes  life  in  the  Prussian  court,  it  is 
stated  that  the  king  and  his  wife  Augusta  do  not  hve 
very  lovingly  together.  Augusta  has  a  vein  of  radical- 
ism in  her  nature,  and  cannot  conceal  a  certain  degree 
of  admiration  for  some  of  those  popular  leaders  in  Ger- 
man)', and  other  parts  of  Europe,  whom  her  husband 
detests  and  despises.  King  William  is  far  too  stubborn 
a  man  to  be  a  yielding  and  agreeable  companion. 

Varnhagen  represents  the  king  as  naturally  kind- 
hearted,  but  didl,  brusque,  and  pig-headed  in  the  ex- 
treme, —  a  man  who  will  not  do  what  he  thinks  is  wrong ; 
and  who  will  do  what  he  believes  to  be  right,  come  what 
may.  He  is  hke  those  conscientious  inquisitors  who 
prayed  God  to  strengthen  them  to  break  the  bones  of  her- 
etics on  the  rack,  and  to  consign  them  to  the  flames. 

From  the  revelations  of  Varnhagen,  which  have  never 
been  contradicted,  it  docs  not  appear  that  the  court  in 
Berlin  has  been,  in  modern  times,  a  model  of  purity. 
Humboldt  was  a  constant  inmate  of  that  court.  From 
his  diary,  it  appears  how  thoroughly  ho  despised  most  of 
those  royal  personages  by  whom  he  was  patronized. 
His  life  at  court  must  often  have  been  almost  loathsome 
to  him.  The  following  anecdote  throws  a  flood  of  light 
upon  the  character,  or  at  least  the  reputation,  of  the 
court :  — 

"  The  late  King  of  Hanover  was  a  coarse,  rough,  un- 


132  HISTORY  OF  PEtJSSIA. 

cultivated  man.  His  reputation  for  brutality  was  sucli, 
that  he  was  accused,  by  the  general  voice  of  the  people, 
of  the  murder  of  his  valet. 

"  He  once  accosted  Humboldt  in  the  palace  of  the  late 
King  of  Prussia,  and,  with  his  customary  brusqueness, 
inquired  why  it  was  that  the  court  was  always  full  of 
philosophers  and  dissolute  characters.  Humboldt  re- 
plied, '  Perhaps  the  king  invites  the  philosophers  to 
meet  me,  and  the  others  to  please  your  Majesty.'  "  ^ 

After  the  coronation  of  the  king,  he  grew,  month  after 
month,  increasingly  unpopular.  He  quarrelled  con- 
stantly with  his  parliament,  silenced  the  journals,  and 
persecuted  every  one  who  ventured  to  speak  in  favor  of 
reform.  Count  Bismarck,  to  whom  we  shall  hereafter 
allude,  was  in  entire  sympathy  with  the  king  in  his 
hostihty  to  representative  governments,  and  in  his  sup- 
port of  absolutism.  Pie  was  called  into  the  council  of 
the  king,  and  became  the  power  behind  the  throne 
stronger  than  the  throne  itself. 

"  There  was,  probably,"  writes  Mr.  INIcCarthy,  "  no 
public  man  in  Europe  so  generally  unpopular  as  the 
King  of  Prussia,  —  except,  perhaps,  his  minister,  the 
Count  von  Bismarck.  In  England,  it  was  something 
like  an  article  of  faith  to  beheve  that  the  king  was  a 
bloody  old  tyrant.  The  dislike  felt  towards  the  king 
was  extended  to  the  members  of  his  family ;  and  the 
popular  conviction  in  England  was,  that  the  Princess 
Victoria,  wife  of  tlie  king's  son,  had  a  dull,  coarse 
drunkard  for  a  husband.  It  is  perfectly  wonderful  how 
soon  an  absurdly  erroneous  idea,  if  there  is  any  thing 
about  it  wliich  jumps  with  the  popular  humor,  takea 
hold  of  the  public  mind  of  England." 

»  Galaxy  for  November,  1870. 


KING  WILLIAM  L  133 

In  the  month  of  July,  1861,  as  the  king  was  taking  a 
walk,  accompanied  by  one  or  two  of  his  suite,  along  the 
fasliionable  avenue  of  Baden-Baden,  a  fanatic  discharged 
at  him  two  barrels  of  a  pistol.  Both  balls,  happily, 
missed  the  king.  The  event  caused  many  deputations 
to  wait  upon  him  with  congratulations  for  his  providen- 
tial escape. 

An  American  gentleman  who  chanced  to  be  in  Baden 
at  that  time  accompanied  a  delegation  of  Englishmen  to 
present  an  address  to  the  king.  In  the  following  terms 
he  describes  the  interview  :  — 

"  At  the  appointed  day  and  hour,  we  assembled,  some 
fifteen  or  twenty  of  us,  in  the  lower  story  of  the  hired 
house  which  the  king  occupied.  It  was  known  in  Baden 
parlance  as  the  Blesmeric  Mouse,  from  the  name  of  its 
owner,  Herr  Mesmer. 

"  We  were  all  in  full  evening-dress.  The  spokesman 
of  the  delegation,  while  mustering  his  forces,  said  to  us, 
'  Gentlemen,  please  take  off  your  gloves.'  So  I  learned 
one  bit  of  court  etiquette,  —  that  you  take  off  your  gloves 
to  a  king ;  at  least,  to  the  King  of  Prussia. 

"  The  gloves  being  removed,  we  were  conducted  up 
stairs,  and  ushered  into  his  jMajesty's  presence.  The 
first  impression  his  Majesty  gave  me  was  that  of  a  very 
badly-dressed  man.  His  dark  cutaway  and  striped 
trousers  looked  as  if  they  had  been  bought  at  a  slop- 
shop, and  a  second-rate  one  at  that. 

"  The  next  impression  that  his  Majesty  gave  me  was, 
that  his  manners  were  no  better,  that  is,  no  more  ele- 
gant or  graceful,  than  his  dress.  He  reminded  one  of  a 
military  puppet.  All  his  actions  were  stiff  and  jerky. 
When  he  advanced,  it  was  '  Forward,  march  ! '  AVhen  he 
tui-ned,  it  was  a  manoeuvre  executed  by  pivoting  on  one 


134  HISTORY   OF  PEUSSIA. 

heel.  His  massive  features  and  powerful  frame  could 
not  be  deyoid  of  a  certain  dignity  ;  but  it  was  a  clumsy 
dignity  at  best,  —  like  that  of  an  ^schylean  actor  in 
mask  and  buskins. 

"  The  king's  reply  to  the  address — probably  the  same 
speech  which  he  had  made  to  each  successive  deputation 
—  was  brief,  and  well  worded.  One  expression  some  of 
us  noted  at  the  time,  and  had  reason  to  remember  after- 
wards: '  I  am  convinced,'  said  he,  '  that  Providence  has 
preserved  me  for  a  special  purpose.'  But,  when  each 
individual  Avas  successively  presented  to  him,  his  awk- 
wardness came  out  again."  ^ 

With  discriminating  criticism  Mr.  LlcCarthy  writes, 
"  I  do  not  believe  that  the  character  of  the  king  is  any- 
wise changed.  He  was  a  dull,  honest,  fanatical  marti- 
net when  he  turned  his  cannon  against  the  German  lib- 
erals in  IS-IS  ;  he  was  a  dull,  honest,  fanatical  martinet 
when  he  unfurled  the  flag  of  Prussia  against  the  Aus- 
trians  in  18G6,  and  against  the  French  in  1870. 

"  The  brave  old  man  is  only  happy  when  doing  what 
he  thinks  is  right ;  but  he  wants  alike  the  intellect  and 
the  susceptibilities  which  enable  people  to  distinguish 
right  from  wrong,  despotism  from  justice,  necessary 
firmness  from  stolid  obstinacy.  But  for  the  war,  and  the 
great  national  issues  which  rose  to  claim  instant  decis- 
ion. King  William  would  have  gone  on  dissolving  par- 
liaments and  punishing  newspapers,  levying  iaxes 
wii^hout  the  consent  of  representatives,  and  making  the 
police-officer  master  of  Berlin.  The  vigor  which  was 
so  popular  when  employed  in  resisting  the  French, 
would  assuredly,  otherwise,  have  found  occupation  in 

'  Mr.  Carl  Benson,  in  Galaxy  for  November,  1870. 


KING  WILLIAM  L  135 

repressing  tlie  Prussians.  I  see  nothing  to  admire  in 
King  William  but  his  courage  and  his  honestj'. 

"  For  all  the  service  he  has  done  to  Germany,  let  him 
have  full  thanks ;  but  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  any 
warmth  of  personal  admiration  for  him.  It  is,  indeed, 
hard  to  look  at  him,  without  feeling,  for  the  moment, 
some  sentiment  of  genuine  respect.  The  fine  head  and 
face,  with  its  noble  outlines,  and  its  frank,  pleasant 
smile  ;  the  stately,  dignified  form,  which  some  seventy- 
five  years  have  neither  bowed  nor  enfeebled,  — make  the 
king  look  like  some  splendid  old  paladin  of  the  court 
of  Charlemagne.  He  is,  despite  his  years,  the  finest 
physical  specimen  of  a  sovereign  Europe  just  now  can 
show. 

"  But  I  cannot  make  a  hero  out  of  stout  King  Wil- 
liam, although  he  has  bravery  enough  of  the  common 
military  land  to  suit  any  of  the  heroes  of  the  Nibelungen- 
lied.  He  never  would,  if  he  could,  render  any  service 
to  liberty.  He  cannot  understand  the  elements  and 
first  principles  of  jiopular  freedom.  To  him  the  people 
is  always  as  a  child,  —  to  be  kept  in  leading-strings, 
and  guided,  and,  if  at  all  boisterous  or  naughty,  to  be 
smartly  bu'chcd,  and  put  in  a  dark  corner. 

"  There  is  nothing  cruel  about  King  William  ;  that  is 
to  say,  he  would  not  willingly  liurt  any  human  creature, 
and  is,  indeed,  rather  kind-hearted  and  humane  than 
otherwise.  He  is  as  utterly  incapable  of  the  mean  spites 
and  shabby  cruelties  of  the  great  Frederick,  whose  statue 
stands  so  near  his  palace,  as  he  is  incapable  of  the  sav- 
age brutalities  and  indecencies  of  Frederick's  father. 

"  He  is,  in  fact,  simply  a  dull  old  disciplinarian,  satu- 
rated through  and  through  with  the  traditions  of  the 
feudal  past  of  Germany ;    his  highest  merit  being  the 


136  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

fact,  that  he  keeps  his  word ;  that  he  is  a  still,  strong 
man,  who  cannot  lie ;  his  noblest  fortune  being  the 
happy  chance  which  called  on  him  to  lead  his  country's 
battles,  instead  of  leaving  him  free  -to  contend  against, 
and  perhaps,  for  the  time,  to  crush,  his  country's  aspira- 
tions for  domestic  freedom. 

"  Kind  Heaven  has  allowed  him  to  become  the  cham- 
pion and  the  representative  of  German  unity,  —  that 
unity  which  is  Germany's  immediate  and  supreme  need, 
calling  for  the  postponement  of  every  other  claim  and 
desire.  And  this  part  he  has  played  hke  a  man,  a  sol- 
dier, and  a  king. 

"  But  one  can  hardly  be  expected  to  forget  all  the 
past, — to  forget  what  Humboldt  and  Varnhagen  von 
Ense  wrote  ;  what  Jacobi  and  Waldeck  spoke  ;  what 
King  Wilham  did  in  1848,  and  what  he  said  in  1861. 
And  unless  we  forget  all  this,  and  a  great  deal  more  to 
the  same  effect,  we  can  hardly  help  acknowledging,  that, 
but  for  the  fortunate  conditions  which  allowed  him  to 
prove  himself  the  best  friend  of  German  unity,  he 
would  probably  have  proved  himself  the  worst  enemy 
of  German  liberty." 


rON   .    B  B.flUSS£L 


CHAPTER    X. 


THE  "CHIEF   SUPPORTERS    OF   THE    CROWN. 


^^ 


'HE  Crown  Prince,  Frederick  William,  the 
son  of  the  hing,  is  not  considered  a  man  of 
much  abihty,  or  of  any  marked  integrity  of 
character.  He  is  now  (1870)  thirty-nine 
years  of  age;  having  been  born  in  1831. 
He  has  command  of  the  central  wing  of 
the  Prussian  army  invading  France.  Hav- 
ing seen  considerable  service,  and  not  being  wanting  in 
energy  or  courage,  he  occupies  a  respectable  rank  as  a 
military  commander.  Having  married  the  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  Queen  Victoria,  —  who  will  thus,  probably,  soon 
become  Queen  of  Prussia,  —  it  is  difficult  for  the  British 
court  to  adopt  any  efficient  measures  to  thwart  the  am- 
■^jitious  designs  of  the  Prussian  monarchy. 

The  most  prominent  military  man  is  Prince  Frederick 
Charles.  He  is  forty-two  years  of  age,  and  is  command- 
er-in-chief of  tlio  Prussian  forces.  Frederick  Charles 
is  the  nephew  of  the  king ;  being  the  son  of  the  king's 
brother  Frederick.  At  ten  years  of  age,  Frederick 
Charles  entered  the  army.  It  was  deemed  essential 
that  every  prince  of  the  House  of  Hohenzollern  should 
be  thoroughly  instructed  in  military  service,  that,  in 

137 


138  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

case  of  necessity,  he  might  be  able  efficiently  to  dra'W 
his  sword  in  defence  of  his  country. 

Even  in  those  early  years,  it  is  said  that  he  was  a  pas- 
sionate admirer  of  the  heroic  deeds  of  Frederick  the 
Great.  With  great  enthusiasm  he  studied  the  history 
of  the  Seven- Years'  War,  thoroughly  familiarizing  him- 
seK  with  all  the  strategic  and  tactical  movements  of 
that  renowned  struggle.  His  innate  love  of  military 
affairs  enabled  him  to  make  rapid  progress  in  his  studies  ; 
and  his  military  genius  soon  became  conspicuous  to  his 
teachers  and  his  companions. 

When  but  twenty  years  of  age,  in  1848,  he  was  as- 
signed to  the  staff  of  the  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Prussian  army,  Gen.  von  Wrangel,  in  the  first  invasion 
of  Schleswig-Holstein.  His  recldess  courage  greatly 
inspirited  the  troops,  and  contributed  much  to  his  re- 
nown. 

When,  in  1849,  his  uncle,  now  King  William  I.,  was 
sent  to  Baden  to  crush  out  with  his  dragoons  a  popular 
uprising  there.  Prince  Frederick  Charles  accompanied 
him,  and  rendered  signal  service  in  the  sanguinary  con- 
flicts which  ensued.  During  the  fifteen  years  of  peace 
which  followed.  Prince  Charles  devoted  himself  with' 
renewed  assiduity  to  his  military  studies ;  making  him-" 
self  familiar  with  every  branch  of  the  service,  and  pay- 
ing special  attention  to  the  organization  and  movements 
of  large  armies. 

In  the  second  invasion  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  in  1863, 
—  to  which  we  shall  hereafter  refer,  —  Frederick  Charles 
was  intrusted  with  the  command  of  the  Prussian  di- 
vision. In  the  attack  upon  Diippel,  one  of  the  most 
formidable  of  the  Danish  strongholds,  Frederick  Charles, 
after  two  repulses,  which  were  accompanied  by  terrible 


THE   CHIEF   SUPPORTERS   OF  THE   CROWN.         139 

slaughter,  grasped  the  flag  of  the  Royal  Guards,  and  per- 
sonally  led  to  a  third  attack,  which  was  successful. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  war  between  Prussia 
and  Austria,  in  186(3,  Frederick  Charles  had  command 
of  the  first  division  of  the  Prussian  army.  On  the  23d 
of  June  he  crossed  the  frontier,  and,  in  ordering  the 
attack  of  his  troops  upon  the  Austrians,  addressed  them 
in  these  singular  words,  characteristic  of  the  blunt,  un- 
cultivated soldier : — 

"  May  your  hearts  beat  towards  God,  and  your  fists 
upon  the  enemjM"  A  series  of  almost  unparalleled  vic- 
tories ensued.  Triumphant  as  was  this  campaign,  which 
was  terminated  by  the  utter  defeat  of  the  Austrians  at 
Sadowa,  it  revealed  to  the  eagle-eye  of  Prince  Frederick 
Charles  some  serious  defects  in  the  organization  of  the 
Prussian  army.  He  subsequently  published  a  pamplilet 
upon  the  subject,  which  attracted  great  attention 
throughout   all   Germany. 

Baron  von  Moltke  is  another  Prussian  whom  the  agi- 
tation of  the  times  has  brought  prominently  before  the 
world.  Tlie  baron  was  born  in  Mecklenburg  on  the  26th 
of  October,  1800.  In  early  life,  he  served  in  the  Danish 
army.  In  the  year  1822,  he  entered  the  Prussian  army 
as  second  lieutenant.  His  superior  military  abilities 
soon  rendered  him  conspicuous,  and  secured  him  rapid 
promotion. 

In  1835  he  went  to  Constantinople  to  organize  the 
Turkish  army.  In  the  campaign  which  ensued  against 
the  Viceroy  of  Egypt,  he  greatly  distinguished  himself, 
and  returned  to  Prussia  crowned  with  new  honors.  In 
1858  he  was  appointed  chief  of  staff,  and  in  1864  took 
a  very  distinguished  part  in  the  war  which  wrested 
Schleswig-Holstcin  from  Denmark.     Soon  after,  he  pub- 


140  HISTOEY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

lislied  several  works  on  military  science,  which  have 
been  widely  translated,  and  which  have  given  him  great 
celebrity  in  military  circles. 

"  But  the  greatest  field  for  the  practical  apjjlication 
of  his  genius  was  offered  him  during  the  campaign  of 
1866.  It  is  said  that  not  only  was  he  in  constant  pos- 
session of  information  about  every  movement  of  the 
army,  but  that  he  never  was  at  a  loss,  one  single  mo- 
ment, how  to  counteract  all  his  adversary's  operations, 
and  turn  them  to  his  own  advantage. 

"  His  character  is  as  firm  as  a  rock ;  and,  when  once 
engaged  in  the  planning  of  a  military  movement,  noth- 
ing can  detain  him  from  carrying  it  out,  as  long  as  he 
feels  morally  convinced  that  he  is  in  the  right,  and  that 
there  is  a  chance  of  success.  In  spite  of  his  advanced 
years  (for  he  has  reached  his  threescore  years  and  ten), 
he  is  said  to  be  still  very  robust ;  and  has  no  fear  of  the 
fatigues  of  a  campaign."^ 

But  by  far  the  most  remarkable  man  whom  these  mod- 
ern agitations  have  brought  prominently  to  view  is  Count 
Otto  Edward  Leopold  von  Bismarck.  He  was  born  at 
Schonhausen  on  the  1st  of  April,  1815.  His  parents 
were  opulent,  and  of  an  ancient  family.  Otto  was  the 
youngest  of  six  children.  When  he  was  but  a  year  old, 
his  father  removed  to  Pomerania,  where  he  inlierited 
some  kuiglitly  estates  at  Kniephof,  about  five  miles  to  the 
east  of  Naugard.  Here  Otto  remained  with  his  parents 
until  he  was  six  years  of  age. 

The  rural  mansion  at  Kniephof  was  plain,  but  cai3a- 
cious.  It  was  pleasantly  situated.  Its  beautiful  garden 
and  surrounding  woods  and  meadows  gave  it  no  incon- 

*  The  Great  European  Conflict,  by  G.  W.  Bible,  p.  55. 


THE    CHIEF   SUPPORTEES   OF  THE   CROWN.         141 

Biderable  celebrity.  In  1821,  when  Otto  was  six  years 
of  age,  he  was  sent  to  Berlin,  and  placed  in  the  renowned 
school  of  Prof.  Plamann.  Here  lie  remained  for  six 
years,  until  1827 ;  when  he  entered  the  Frederick  Wil- 
liam Gymnasium.  His  elder  brother  was  in  the  class 
above  him.  Their  parents  were  in  the  habit  of  spending 
their  winter-months  in  Berlin.  Thus  the  boys  enjoyed 
mueli  of  home-life,  as  they  resided  with  theu'  parents. 

The  two  boys  were  placed  under  the  best  of  tutors ; 
and  Otto,  in  addition  to  becoming  a  good  classical  scholar, 
attained  so  famihar  an  acquaintance  with  English  and 
French  as  to  speak  both  languages  with  correctness  and 
fluency.  No  expense  was  spared  in  the  education  of 
these  children.  Their  mother  was  an  accomplished 
lady,  aUke  distinguished  for  her  personal  beauty  and  her 
mental  endowments.  She  seems  early  to  have  appre- 
ciated the  remarkable  character  and  abilities  of  Otto ; 
and  she  expressed  a  particular  desire  that  he  should  de- 
vote himself  to  a  diplomatic  career.  The  father  of  Otto 
was  a  witty,  kind-hearted,  good-humored  man,  who 
look  the  world  easily,  and  who  was  not  remarkable  for 
information  or  intellect. 

In  the  year  1830,  when  Otto  had  attained  his  six- 
teenth l)irthday,  he  was  confirmed  in  the  Trinity  Church 
at  Berlin.  Two  years  later,  in  1832,  he  graduated  at 
tlie  gymnasium,  and  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  law. 
Dr.  Bonnell,  director  of  the  gymnasium,  speaks  in  the 
following  terras  of  Otto  when  under  his  care  :  — 

"  ]\Iy  attention  was  drawn  to  Bismarck  on  the  very  day 
of  his  entry ;  on  which  occasion  the  new  boys  sat  in  the 
schoolroom  on  rows  of  benches,  in  order  that  the  mas- 
ters could  overlook  the  new-comers  with  attention 
during  the  inauguration.     Otto  von  Bismarck  sat,  as  I 


142  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

still  distinctly  remember,  with,  visible  eagerness,  a  clear 
and  pleasant  boyisb  face  and  bright  eyes,  in  a  gay  and 
lightsome  mood,  among  his  comrades :  so  that  it  caused 
me  to  think,  '  That's  a  nice  boy.  I'll  keep  my  eye  on 
him.' 

"  He  became  an  inmate  of  my  house  in  1831,  where 
he  behaved  himself,  in  my  modest  household,  in  a 
friendly  and  confiding  manner.  In  every  respect,  he 
was  charming.  He  seldom  quitted  us  of  an  evening. 
If  I  were  sometimes  absent,  he  conversed  in  a  friendly 
and  innocent  manner  with  my  wife,  and  evinced  a  strong 
inclination  for  domestic  hfe.  He  won  our  hearts ;  and 
we  met  his  advances  with  affection  and  care  :  so  that  his 
father,  when  he  quitted  us,  declared  that  his  son  had 
never  been  so  happy  as  with  us."  ^ 

He  is  represented  at  this  time  as  being  quiet,  retiring, 
formal,  and  quite  punctilious  in  observing  and  exacting 
that  courtesy  which  etiquette  required.  An  admirable 
memory  aided  him  in  the  study  of  languages.  He  was 
very  fond  of  dogs  and  horses.  Though,  not  fond  of 
athletic  sports,  he  was  a  good  fencer,  an  accomplished 
swimmer,  and  danced  gracefully.  He  had  grown  rap- 
idly ;  was  tall,  thin,  with  a  pale  face,  though  enjoying 
good  health.  At  the  university  he  became  acquainted 
with  Lothrop  Motley,  who  has  since  become  so  distin- 
guished. 

Otto  had  wished  to  enter  the  University  at  Heidel- 
berg. His  mother  objected,  lest  he  should  "  contract 
the  habit,  detestable  to  her,  of  drinking  beer."  He 
therefore  entered  the  University  of  Gottingen.  Here 
he  plunged  into  dissipation  with  great  recklessness.    His 

*  Life  of  Bismarck,  by  John  George  Louis  Hesekiel,  p.  115. 


THE   CHIEF  SUPPORTERS   OF  THE   CROWN.         143 

vigorous  constitution  cnal)led  him  to  endure  excesses 
under  which  others  wouhl  have  broken  down.  He 
fought  a  duel,  in  which  lie  was  slightly  wounded.  Soon 
after,  he  had  four  challenges  at  the  same  time  upon  his 
hands.  In  his  "  jolly  life  at  Gottingen,  he  had  no  leisure 
to  attend  the  classes."  ^ 

Upon  going  home  in  vacation,  his  dress  and  altered 
manners  greatly  grieved  his  mother.  The  months  of  so- 
called  pleasure  rolled  on  ;  and  Bismarck  became  nomi- 
nally a  lawyer,  opening  his  office  in  Berlin.  He  was  a 
good-looking  man,  of  majestic  stature  and  courtly  bear- 
ing. 

During  the  winter  succeeding  the  summer  of  1835, 
young  Bismarck  attended  a  court-ball.  Here  he  met,  for 
the  first  time.  Prince  William,  son  of  King  Frederick 
William  III.  As  Bismarck,  with  another  lawyer  of 
equally  majestic  stature,  was  introduced  to  the  immedi- 
ate heir  to  the  throne,  William,  scrutinizing  the  two 
stately  forms  before  him,  said,  "Well,  Justice  seeks 
her  young  advocates  according  to  the  standard  of  the 
guards."  This  was  the  first  interview  between  the 
future  monarch  and  his  future  illustrious  prime-minister. 

In  the  3^ear  1836,  Bismarck  was  sent  as  an  attache  to 
the  legation  to  the  court  at  Aix  la  Chapelle.  Plere 
again  he  plunged  into  all  the  fashionable  dissipation  of 
the  imperial  city.  He  was  thrown  into  convivial  asso- 
ciation with  Englishmen  and  Frenchmen.  Speaking 
fluently  the  two  languages,  he  became  a  great  favorite, 
and  made  several  excursions  to  Belgium,  France,  ai  d 
the  Rhine  province. 

Ill  llio  year  18:57,  he  was  transferred  to  the   crown 

'  Life  of  Bismarck,  by  John  George  Louis  Hesekiel,  p.  127. 


144  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

office  at  Potsdam.  The  next  year,  lie  entered  tlie  Jager 
Guard  to  fulfil  his  military  duties.  He  was  a  wild  fel- 
low. His  improvident  father  had  so  managed  the  estate, 
that  the  family  was  threatened  with  pecuniary  ruin. 

The  sons  begged  their  father  to  grant  them  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Pomeranian  property.  The  request 
was  acceded  to  ;  and  the  parents  retired  to  Schonhausen 
to  spend  the  evening  of  their  days.  The  mother,  who 
was  in  feeble  health,  soon  died,  in  November,  1839.  It 
was  in  the  summer  of  this  year  that  Bismarck  entered 
on  the  administration  of  the  Pomeranian  estates.  He 
was  then  twenty-three  years  of  age.  He  had  been  ac- 
customed to  extravagant  expenditure.  Now  bitter 
want  oppressed  him.  Thus  impelled  by  necessity,  he 
devoted  himself,  for  a  time,  to  the  care  of  the  wasted 
estates,  with  diligence  and  with  wisdom. 

But  the  change  in  his  mode  of  life  depressed  him  :  he 
became  subject  to  deep  despondency.  With  returning 
prosperity  came  returning  recklessness.  His  eulogistic 
biographer  says  of  him,  — 

"  Despite  liis  wild  life  and  actions,  he  felt  a  continually 
increasing  sense  of  lonelmess ;  and  the  same  Bismarck 
who  gave  himself  to  jolly  carouses  among  the  officers  of 
the  neighboring  garrisons,  sank,  when  alone,  into  the 
bitterest  and  most  desolate  state  of  reflection.  He  suf- 
fered from  that  disgust  of  life  common  to  the  boldest 
officers  at  times,  and  which  has  been  called  '  first  lieu- 
tenant's melancholy.'  The  less  real  pleasure  he  had  in 
his  wild  career,  the  madder  it  became  ;  and  he  earned 
himself  a  fearful  reputation  among  the  elder  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  who  predicted  the  moral  and  pecuniary  ruin 
of  '  Mad  Bismarck.'  "  ^ 

'  Life  of  Bismarck,  by  John  George  Louis  Ilesekiel,  p.  133. 


■^IIE   CHIEF   SUrrOllTEllS   OF  THE   CROWN.         145 

The  two  brothers  divided  the  estates  in  Pomerania,  so 
that  Kniephof  and  its  surroundings  fell  to  the  share  of 
Otto.  "  Strange  scenes  occurred  at  Kniephof  when  the 
youthful  owner,  tortured  by  dark  thoughts,  dashed  rcck- 
lessl}'",  to  kill  time,  through  the  fields,  —  sometimes  in  soli- 
tude, and  sometimes  in  the  company  of  gay  companions 
and  guests:  so  that  Kniephof  became  renowned  far  and 
wide  in  the  land. 

"  Strange  stories  were  current  about  their  nocturnal 
carouses,  at  which  none  could  equal  '  Mad  Bismarck '  in 
emptying  the  great  beaker  filled  with  porter  and  cham- 
pagne. Tales  of  a  Avild  character  were  whispered  in  the 
circles  of  shuddering  ladies.  At  each  mad  adventure, 
each  wild  burst  of  humor,  a  dozen  myths  started  up, 
sometimes  of  comical,  sometimes  of  a  terrible  character, 
until  the  little  mansion  of  Kniephof  was  looked  upon  as 
haunted.  But  the  ghosts  must  have  had  tolerably  strong 
nerves ;  for  the  guests,  slumbering  with  nightcaps  of  por-. 
ter  or  champagne,  were  often  roused  by  pistol-shots,  the 
bullets  whistling  over  their  heads,  and  the  lime  from  the 
ceilings  tumbling  into  their  faces."  ^ 

Bismarck  was  of  course,  in  his  many  hours  of  soli- 
tude, restless  and  unhaftpy.  In  vain  he  sought  repose 
for  his  troubled  spirit  in  reading.  lie  tried  travels,  and 
visited  France  and  England.  His  father  died  in  1845 ; 
and  Bismarck  received,  as  an  addition  to  his  property, 
the  estate  of  Schonhauson.  Here  he  took  up  his  future 
residence.  Some  local  ofiices  of  trivial  importance  were 
conferred  upon  him. 

At  tlie  house  of  a  friend  Bismarck  met  a  young  lady, 
Johanna  von  Putkannner,  and  fell  deeply  in  love  with 


'  Life  of  Bisrmirck,  p.  134. 
10 


146  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

her ;  but  his  reputation  was  such,  that  the  friends  of  the 
young  lady  were  horror-struck  at  the  thought  of  her 
union  with  such  a  debauchee.  Johanna,  however,  re- 
turned the  affection  of  her  ardent  lover ;  and  her  parents, 
with  great  reluctance,  at  length  gave  their  assent  to  the 
union.  They  were  married  in  July,  1847.  On  his  bridal 
tour,  Bismarck  visited  Switzerland  and  Italy.  At  Venice 
he  met  King  Frederick  William  IV.,  and  was  invited  to 
dine  with  him.  They  conversed  for  a  long  time  upon 
German  politics.  Bismarck  had  already  imbibed  a  strong 
antipathy  to  democratic  progress,  and  was  strenuously 
in  favor  of  preserving  all  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown. 
The  views  he  expressed  in  this  conversation  were  evi- 
dently very  gratifying  to  the  king.  Here,  probably, 
was  laid  the  foundation  of  that  royal  favor  with  which 
the  king  ever  after  regarded  his  illustrious  subject. 

We  are  told  by  his  eulogistic  biographer  that  the  first 
enemy  Bismarck  saw  to  the  power  of  the  throne  was 
liberalism  ;  and  he  showed  a  firm  front  to  it.  Then  de- 
mocracy ventured  upon  some  of  its  utterances ;  and  he  met 
this  foe  with  the  most  unhesitating  conviction.  "  Lib- 
eralism, democrac}^,  the  inimical  jealousy  of  Austria,  the 
envy  of  foreign  nations,  —  such  are  the  enemies  of  the 
Prussian  sovereignty;  and  Bismarck  has,  with  equal 
courage  and  firmness,  with  as  much  insight  as  success, 
fought  openly  and  honestly  against  these." 

When,  in  1847,  Frederick  William  IV.,  constrained  by 
the  general  popular  uprising  in  his  realms,  consented  to 
a  constitution  which  granted  many  reforms,  the  old  no- 
bility were  displeased.  They  adhered  to  the  absolutism 
of  their  former  sovereigns.  In  the  debate  upon  this 
question,  Bismarck,  as  deputy  to  the  United  Diet,  first 
made  his  appearance  as  a  public  speaker.     He  entered 


TUE   CHIEF   SUPPORTEllS   OF  THE   CROWN.         147 

bis  protest  against  the  constitution,  and  against  any  con- 
cession to  the  spirit  of  liberalism.  His  remarks  were  so 
little  relished,  that  his  voice  was  drowned  with  hisses  and 
outcries. 

The  whole  liberal  press  now  came  down  upon  Bis- 
marck with  the  utmost  ferocity.  With  singular  cool- 
ness, he  had  avowed  himself  the  friend  of  feudal  ab- 
solutism and  the  enemy  of  "  popular  rights."  "  Thus," 
says  his  biographer,  "  he  found  himself  in  full  battle- 
array  against  hberalism.  He  gave  utterance  to  his 
opinions  in  conformity  with  his  natural  fearless  na- 
ture." 

In  a  long  speech  in  1847,  he  said,  "  With  whom  does 
the  right  reside  to  issue  an  authentic  declaration  ?  In 
my  opinion,  in  the  king  alone.  The  Prussian  sovereigns 
are  in  possession  of  a  crown,  not  by  the  grace  of  the  peo- 
ple, but  by  God's  grace,  —  an  actually  unconditional 
crown,  some  of  the  rights  of  Avhich  they  have  volunta,rily 
conceded  to  the  people." 

Thus  Bismarck  took  his  stand,  with  ever-increasing 
boldness  and  ability,  in  support  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
crown,  and  in  antagonism  to  popular  rights.  The  sum- 
mer of  1848  was  terrible  in  its  menaces  to  the  absolutism 
of  the  Prussian  throne.  Bismarck  was  recognized  as  the 
boldest  and  ablest  of  the  advocates  of  royalty.  Ilis 
courage  never  faltered.  Consequently  he  Avas  hated  by 
the  advocates  of  reform  as  much  as  he  was  cherished  by 
the  court. 

One  evening,  he  was  in  a  beer-saloon  which  was  fre- 
quented by  those  in  political  sympathy  with  him. 

"  He  had  just  taken  his  seat,  when  a  particularly  offen- 
sive expression  was  used  at  the  next  table  concerning 
a  member  of  the  royal  family.     Bismarck  iuiniediately 


148  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

rose  to  his  full  height,  turned  to  the  speaker,  and  thun 
dered  forth,  — 

"  '  Out  of  the  house  !  If  you  are  not  off  when  I  have 
drunk  this  beer,  I  will  break  this  glass  on  your  head ! ' 

"  At  this  there  ensued  a  fierce  commotion  ;  and  out- 
cries resounded  in  all  directions.  Without  the  slightest 
notice,  Bismarck  finished  his  draught,  and  then  brought 
down  the  mug  upon  the  offender's  pate  with  such  effect, 
that  the  glass  flew  into  fragments,  and  the  man  fell  down 
howling  with  anguish.  There  was  a  deep  silence,  during 
which  Bismarck's  voice  was  heard  to  say  in  the  quietest 
tone,  as  if  nothing  whatever  had  taken  place,  — 

"  '  Waiter,  what  is  to  pay  for  this  broken  glass  ?  '  "  ^ 

In  the  spring  of  1851,  Bismarck  was  appointed  by 
Frederick  William  IV.  ambassador  to  the  diet  at  Frank- 
fort on  the  Main.  The  following  anecdote  is  related 
of  him,  which,  if  not  absolutely  true,  is  certainly  charac- 
teristic of  the  man :  "  He  one  day  visited  the  presiding 
deputy,  Count  Thun.  The  count  received  him  with  a 
sort  of  brusque  familiarity,  and  went  on  coolly  smoking 
his  cigar,  without  even  asking  him  to  take  a  chair.  Tlie 
latter  simply  took  out  his  cigar-case,  pulled  out  a  cigar, 
and  said  in  an  easy  tone,  '  May  I  beg  a  light.  Excel- 
lency ? '  Excellency,  astonished  to  the  greatest  degree, 
supphed  the  desired  light.  Bismarck  got  a  good  blaze 
up,  and  then  took  the  unoffered  seat  in  the  coolest  way 
in  the  world,  and  led  the  way  to  a  conversation." 

In  a  letter  from  Bismarck  to  his  wife,  dated  Frank- 
fort, 3d  Jul}^  1851,  we  find  the  following  sentiments  :  — 

"  I  went,  day  before  yesterday,  to  Wiesbaden,  to ; 

and,  with  a  mixture  of  sadness  and  wisdom,  we  went  to 

*  Life  of  Bismarck,  p.  202. 


TnE   CHIEF   SUPPORTERS   OF  THE   CROWN.  149 

see  this  scene  of  former  folly.  Would  it  might  please 
God  to  fill  tliis  vessel  with  his  clear  and  strong  wine,  in 
which  formerly  the  champagne  of  twenty-one  years  of 
youth  foamed  uselessly,  and  left  nothing  but  loathing 

behind  !     Where  now  are ,  and  Miss ?     How 

many  are  buried  with  whom  I  then  fluted,  drank,  and 
diced  !  How  many  transformations  have  taken  place  in 
my  views  of  the  world  in  these  fourteen  years !  How 
little  are  some  things  to  me  now  which  then  appeared 
to  me  great !  How  much  is  venerable  to  me  which  I 
then  ridiculed !  " 

During  the  summer  of  1855,  Bismarck  visited  the  Ex- 
position at  Paris.  Here  he  was  the  guest  of  the  Prus- 
sian ambassador.  Count  Hatzfeld ;  and  was  introduced, 
for  the  first  time,  to  the  Emperor  of  the  French.  Again, 
in  the  spring  of  1857,  he  visited  Paris,  and  had  a  .special 
political  conference  with  the  emperor ;  after  which  he 
visited  Denmark  and  Sweden.  Sundry  incidental  re- 
marks in  his  letters  now  begin  to  show  how  the  idea  of 
adding  to  the  power  of  Prussia  was  daily  more  and  more 
occupying  his  thoughts,  and  gaining  strength  in  his  mind. 
In  an  apparently  official  communication,  dated  May  12, 
1859,  we  find  the  following  expressions  :  — 

"  Perhaps  I  am  going  too  far  when  I  express  it  as  my 
opinion,  that  we  should  seize  every  justifiable  opportunity 
to  obtain  a  revision,  necessary  to  Prussia,  of  our  relations 
to  the  smaller  German  States.  I  think  that  we  should 
wilhngly  take  up  the  gauntlet,  and  regard  it  as  no  mis- 
fortune, but  as  real  progress,  if  a  majority  at  Frankfort 
should  decide  upon  a  vote  which  we  could  regard  as  an 
arbitrary  change  in  the  object  of  the  confederation,  a 
violation  of  its  treaties.  The  more  unmistakable  this 
violation,  the  better.     I  sec  in  our  position  in  the  diet  a 


150  HISTORY    OF  PRUSSIA. 

defect  of  Prussia,  which  we  shall  have,  sooner  or  later, 
to  heal  by  fire  and  the  sword." 

The  Italians  were  moving  to  escape  from  Austrian 
thraldom,  and  to  establish  Italian  unity.  Unaided,  the 
divided  States  of  Italy  could  by  no  means  resist  the  pow- 
erful Austrian  monarchy.  France  was  the  only  nation 
to  which  the  Italians  could  look  for  aid.  Prussia  had 
engaged  to  unite  with  Austria,  should  the  French  armies 
march  to  the  aid  of  the  Italians.  In  allusion  to  this  sub- 
ject, Bismarck  wrote  as  follows,  from  St.  Petersburg,  on 
the  22d  of  August,  1860 :  — 

"  According  to  the  journals,  we  have  bound  ourselves 
verbally  to  assist  Austria,  under  all  circumstances,  should 
she  be  attacked  by  France  in  Italy.  Should  Austria  find 
it  necessary  to  act  on  the  offensive,  our  consent  would 
be  requisite  if  our  co-operation  is  to  be  anticipated. 
Austria  having  security  that  we  should  fight  for  Venice, 
she  will  know  how  to  provoke  the  attack  of  France. 

"  Viennese  politics,  since  the  Garibaldian  expedition, 
desire  to  make  things  in  Italy  as  bad  as  they  can  be,  in 
order  that,  if  Napoleon  himself  should  find  it  necessary 
to  declare  against  tlie  Italian  revolution,  movements 
should  commence  on  all  sides  to  restore  the  former  state 
of  things. 

"  Some  kind  of  general  rumors  reach  me  that  the  press 
carries  on  a  systematic  war  against  me.  I  am  said  to 
have  openly  supported  Russo-French  pretensions  respect- 
ing a  session  of  the  Rhine  province,  on  condition  of  com- 
pensation nearer  home.  I  will  pay  a  thousand  Frede- 
rick d'ors  to  the  person  who  will  prove  to  me  that  any 
such  Russo-French  propositions  have  ever  been  brought 
to  my  knowledge  by  any  one."  ^ 

*  Life  of  Bismarck,  p.  292. 


THE   CHIEF   SUPPORTERS   OF  THE   CROWN.         151 

"  The  Edinburgh  Review,"  in  the  following  terms,  ex- 
presses its  estimate  of  the  character  of  Bismarck:  "  His 
private  life  is  pure.  Nobody  has  accused  him  of  having 
used  his  high  position  for  his  pecuniary  advantage  ;  but 
by  the  side  of  these  virtues  the  darker  shades  are  not 
wanting.  He  never  forgets  a  slight,  and  persecutes 
people  who  have  offended  him  with  the  most  unworthy 
malice.  His  strong  will  degenerates  frequently  into 
absurd  obstinacy.  He  is  feared  by  his  subordinates ; 
but  we  never  heard  that  anybody  loved  him.  He  can 
tell  the  very  reverse  of  truth  with  an  amazing  coolness. 
He  laughs  at  the  fools  who  took  his  fine  words  for  solid ' 
cash.     His  contempt  of  men  is  profound.''  ^ 

jMr.  Friedrich  Kapp,  in  an  article  in  "  The  New-York 
Nation "  of  October,  1870,  upon  the  conversatioiis  of 
Count  Bismarck,  narrates  the  following  incident :  — 

"  To  the  Austrian  minister,  when  this  gentleman 
rather  incredulously  received  one  of  Bismarck's  asser- 
tions, he  said,  a  few  weeks  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  of  18GG,  '  I  never  make  a  false  statement  whenever 
I  can  avoid  it.  In  your  case  it  is  not  necessary.  There- 
fore I  have  no  earthly  interest  to  deceive  you,  and  you 
can  believe  my  words.'  " 

'■  Ediuburgli  Review,  vol.  cxxx.  p.  457. 


CHAPTER    XI. 


SCHLESWIG    AND    HOLSTEIN. 


ARLY  in  the  spring  of  1859,  Bismarck  was 
appointed  ambassador  to  Russia.  His  la- 
bors were  not  arduous.  Much  of  liis  time 
was  devoted  to  the  education  of  his  three 
children,  —  one  daughter  and  two  sons.  On 
the  2d  of  July,  before  his  family  had  joined 
him  in  Petersburg,  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  — 
"  Half  an  hour  ago,  a  courier  awakened  me  with  tidings 
of  war  and  peace.  Our  politics  are  sliding  more  and 
more  into  the  Austrian  groove.  If  we  fire  one  shot  on 
the  Rhine,  the  Italo-Austrian  war  is  over :  in  place  of 
it,  we  shall  see  a  Prusso-French  war,  in  which  Austria, 
after  we  have  taken  the  load  from  her  shoulders,  will 
assist,  or  assist  so  far  as  her  own  interests  are  concerned. 
That  we  should  play  a  very  victorious  part,  is  scarcely  to 
be  conceded. 

"  Be  it  as  God  wills  !  It  is,  here  below,  always  a  ques- 
tion of  time.  Nations  and  men,  folly  and  wisdom,  war 
and  peace,  —  they  come  like  waves,  and  so  depart ;  while 
the  ocean  remains.  On  this  earth  there  is  nothing  but 
hypocrisy  and  jugglery ;  and  whether  this  mass  of  flesh 
is  to  be  torn  off  by  fever,  or  by  a  cartridge,  it  must  fall 
at  last.     Then  the  difference  between  a  Prussian  and  an 

152 


SCHLESWIQ   AND   HOLSTEIN.  153 

Austrian,  if  of  the  same  stature,  will  be  so  small,  that  it 
will  be  difficult  to  distinguish  between  them.  Fools  and 
wise  men,  as  skeletons,  look  very  much  like  one  another. 
Specific  patriotism  we  thus  lose ;  but  it  would  be  des- 
perate if  we  carried  it  into  eternity." 

That  Bismarck  possesses, some  warm  human  sympa- 
thies is  evident  from  the  following  extracts  from  a  letter 
of  condolence  to  a  friend  who  had  lost  a  beloved  child :  — 

"  A  greater  sorrow  could  scarcely  have  befallen  you,  — 
to  lose  so  charming  and  joyfully-growing  a  child,  and 
with  it  to  bury  all  the  hopes  which  were  to  become  the 
joys  of  your  old  age.  Mourning  cannot  depart  from 
you  as  long  as  you  live  in  this  world.  This  I  feel  with 
you  in  deeply  painful  sympathy.  We  are  helpless  in 
the  mighty  hand  of  God,  and  can  do  nothing  but  bow 
in  humility  under  his  behest. 

"  How  do  all  the  little  cares  and  troubles  which  beset 
our  daily  lives  vanish  beside  the  iron  advent  of  real  mis- 
fortune !  We  should  not  depend  on  this  world,  or  regard 
it  as  our  home.  Another  twenty  or  thirty  years,  and  we 
shall  both  have  passed  from  the  sorrows  of  this  world. 
Our  children  will  have  arrived  at  our  present  position, 
and  will  find  with  astonishment  that  the  life  so  freshly 
begun  is  going  down  hill." 

On  the  22d  of  May,  1862,  Bismarck  was  appointed 
ambassador  to  Paris.  Nothing  of  special  interest  seems 
to  have  occurred  during  his  short  mission  there.  He 
was  now  regarded  by  the  liberals  as  the  leader  of  the 
aristocratic,  or  Junker  party  as  it  was  called.  There  was 
no  one  more  Ixjld  and  able  than  he  in  defence  of  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  nobility  and  of  the  crown.  Greatly  to 
the  indigiialion  of  thu  democracy,  the  king,  in  the  au- 
tumn of  lyOo,  appointed  Bismarck  prime-minister.    The 


154  HISTORY   OP  PRUSSIA. 

biographer  of  his  life,  who  was  in  entire  sympathy  with 
his  political  views,  writes,  — 

"  When  Bismarck  arrived  in  Berlin,  about  the  middle 
of  September,  1862,  he  found  opposed  to  him  the  party 
of  progress,  almost  sure  of  victory,  clashing  onward  like 
a  charger  with  heavy  spurs  and  sword,  trampling  upon 
every  thing  in  its  path,  setting  up  new  scandals  every 
day,  and  acting  in  such  a  manner  that  the  wiser  chiefs 
of  that  party  shook  their  very  heads.  Beside  that  party 
of  progress,  and  partially  governed  and  towed  along  by 
it,  was  the  liberal  party,  possessed,  with  the  exception  of 
a  minority,  of  an  almost  still  greater  dislike  for  Bismarck 
than  was  entertained  by  the  progressists." 

Having  declared  himself  in  favor  of  Italian  unity, 
which  would  weaken  Austria,  the  hostility  of  that  power 
was  strongly  excited  against  him.  He  therefore  entered 
into  more  friendly  relations  with  France.  His  great  ob- 
ject seemed  now  to  be  to  unite  all  parties  (aristocratic 
and  democratic),  to  wrest  from  Austria  the  leadership  of 
Germany,  and  to  confer  that  leadership  upon  Prussia. 
He  was  fully  aware  that  this  great  feat  could  not  be  ac- 
complished without  war.  Repeatedly  he  said,  "  The  all- 
important  questions  of  the  day  are  not  to  be  settled  by 
speeches  and  by  votes,  but  by  iron  and  blood."  ^ 

Bismarck  complained  bitterly  that  most  of  the  German 
Sta,tes  were  in  sympathy  witli  Austria,  and  stood  out 
offensively  against  Prussia.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  his 
administration  was  to  enter  into  an  alliance  with  Russia 
to  suppress  the  Polish  insurrection. 

Upon  the  accession  of  William  I.  to  the  throne,  Prus- 
sia consisted  of  a  territory  of  24,464  square  miles  ;  being 

*  Life  of  Bismarck,  p.  340. 


SCHLESWIG    AND   HOLSTEIN.  155 

but  about  half  as  large  as  the  State  of  New  York.  It 
contained  a  population  of  but  little  more  than  eight  mil- 
lions. The  kingdom  was  composed  of  eight  provinces, 
two  of  wliich,  Prussia  and  Posen,  did  not  belong  to  the 
German  Confederacy.^ 

Adjoining  Prussia,  on  the  north-west,  there  were  two 
small  duchies,  —  Schleswig  and  Holstein.  Bounded  on 
the  north-west  by  the  German  Ocean,  and  on  the  north- 
east by  the  Baltic  Sea,  with  the  River  Elbe  at  their  base, 
they  presented  unusual  facilities  for  commerce.  Their 
united  population  was  about  a  million. 

These  duchies  were  a  part  of  the  dominion  of  the 
King  of  Denmark,  though  under  a  different  law  of  suc- 
cession from  that  of  the  crown.  For  some  time,  both  of 
the  duchies  had  been  under  one  ruler,  —  Duke  Frederick. 
The  title  was  hereditary.  Upon  the  death  of  Frederick 
VII.  of  Denmark,  his  successor  on  the  throne.  Christian 
IX.,  claimed  the  dukedom  of  the  two  duchies.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  reigning  duke,  Frederick,  claimed  it. 
Though  the  two  duchies  were  inseparably  connected, 
one  of  them,  Schleswig,  belonged  to  the  Germanic  Con- 
federation ;  and  the  other,  Holstein,  did  not :  but,  as  one 
belonged  to  the  confederation,  the  contested  claim  to  the 
dukedom  Ijecame  a  German  question.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  ducliies  were,  with  great  apparent  unanimity,  in 
favor  of  Duke  Frederick,  and  opposed  to  the  claims  of 
Denmark.  In  view  of  this  difficulty,  the  Danish  govern- 
ment had  secured  a  treaty,  on  the  2d  of  May,  18G2,  to 
which  Austria,  Prussia,  France,  Russia,  and  England 
were  parties,  guaranteeing  the  integrity  of  the  Danish 
monarch3%  Thus  all  Europe  became  involved  in  the 
controversy. 

*  AmfTican  Annual  Cyclopajcliii,  1867. 


156  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA, 

England  was  somewhat  embarrassed  in  her  action. 
Victoria's  daughter  had  married  the  Crown  Prince  of 
Prussia,  and  thus  was  destined  to  be  the  queen  of  that 
kingdom.  The  eldest  son  of  Victoria,  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  had  married  a  daughter  of  the  King  of  Denmark  . 
thus  this  Danish  princess  was  prospective  Queen  of 
England.  This  intimate  family  relationship  between 
the  British  court  and  both  Prussia  and  Denmark  greatly 
embarrassed  the  court  of  St.  James  in  its  action. 

Prussia  and  Austria,  as  members  of  the  Germanic 
Confederation,  espoused  the  claims  of  Frederick  to  the 
duchies.  Notwithstanding  their  treaty  obligations,  tliey 
furnished  mihtary  aid  to  wrest  the  duchies  from  the  King 
of  Denmark.  England,  embarrassed  by  her  matrimonial 
connections,  stood  aloof.  None  of  the  other  minor  pow- 
ers ventured  to  intervene.  Thus,  after  a  brief  struggle, 
Schleswig  and  Holstein  were  wrested  from  Denmark, 
and  were  declared  to  be  independent  of  the  Danish 
crown. 

This  was  Bismarck's  first  step  in  his  very  shrewd  and 
successful  intrigue.  Immediately  three  new  claimants 
appeared,  demanding  the  duchies  by  the  right  of  inherit- 
ance :  these  were  the  Grand  Duke  of  Oldenburg,  the 
Prince  of  Hesse,  and,  to  the  surprise  of  all  Europe,  Wil- 
liam I.,  King  of  Prussia.  Thus,  including  Duke  Frede- 
rick and  the  King  of  Denmark,  there  were  five  claimants. 

All  Europe  was  at  this  time  in  a  state  of  great  agita- 
tion. Poland  was  in  insurrection.  There  was,  mani- 
festly, a  conflict  arising  between  Prussia  and  Austria  in 
reference  to  supremacy  in  Germany.  Italy,  triumphant 
(with  the  aid  of  France)  at  Solferino,  and  having  thus 
attained  almost  entire  unity,  was  gathering  its  forces  for 
the  conquest  of  the  Papal  States  and  for  the  liberation 


SOHLESWIG   AND    HOLSTEIN.  157 

of  Venetia;  and  France  was  clamorous  fur  the  posses- 
sion of  her  ancient  boundary  of  the  Rhine. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  Emperor  of  the  French 
adopted  the  extraordinary  measure  of  addressing  the 
following  circular  to  all  the  crowned  heads  in  Europe. 
It  was  dated 

"Palace  of  the  Tuilekies,  Nov.  4,  1863. 

"  In  presence  of  events  which  every  day  arise,  and  l)e- 
come  urgent,  I  deem  it  indispensable  to  express  myself, 
without  reserve,  to  the  sovereigns  to  whom  the  destinies 
of  peoples  are  confided. 

"  Whenever  severe  shocks  have  shaken  the  bases  and 
displaced  the  limits  of  States,  solemn  transactions  have 
taken  place  to  arrange  new  elements,  and  to  consecrate, 
by  revision,  the  accomplished  transformations.  Such 
was  the  object  of  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  of  the  negotiations  of  Vienna  in 
1815.  It  is  on  this  latter  foundation  that  now  reposes 
the  political  edifice  of  Eurojie  ;  and  yet,  you  are  aware, 
it  is  crumbling  away  on  all  sides. 

"  If  the  situation  of  the  different  countries  be  atten- 
tively considered,  it  is  impossible  not  to  admit  that  the 
treaties  of  Vienna,  upon  almost  all  points,  are  destro3^cd, 
modified,  misunderstood,  or  menaced :  hence  duties  with- 
out rule,  rights  without  title,  and  pretensions  without 
restraint.  The  danger  is  so  much  the  more  formida- 
l)h',  because  the  improvements  brought  about  by  civili- 
zation, which  have  bound  nations  together  by  the  identity 
of  material  interests,  would  render  war  more  destructive. 

"  This  is  a  subject  for  serious  reflection.  Let  us  not 
wait,  before  deciding  on  pur  course,  for  sudden  and  irre- 
sistible "events  to  disturb  our  judgment,  and  carry  us 
liway,  despite  ourselves,  in  op})Osite  directions. 


158  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

"  I  therefore  propose  to  you  to  regulate  the  present, 
and  secure  the  future,  in  a  congress. 

"  Called  to  the  throne  by  Providence  and  the  will  of 
the  French  people,  but  trained  in  the  school  of  adversity, 
it  is,  perhaps,  less  permitted  to  roe  than  to  any  other  to 
ignore  the  rights  of  sovereigns  and  the  legitimate  aspi- 
rations of  the  people. 

"  Therefore  I  am  ready,  without  any  preconceived  sys- 
tem, to  bring  to  an  international  council  the  spirit  of 
moderation  and  justice,  —  the  usual  portion  of  those 
who  have  endured  so  many  various  trials. 

"  If  I  take  the  initiative  in  such  an  overture,  I  do  not 
yield  to  an  impulse  of  vanity  ;  but,  as  I  am  the  sovereign 
to  whom  ambitious  projects  are  most  attributed,  I  have 
it  at  heart  to  prove  by  this  frank  and  loyal  step  that  my 
sole  object  is  to  arrive,  without  a  shock,  at  the  pacifica- 
tion of  Europe.  If  this  proposition  be  favorably  re- 
ceived, I  pray  you  to  accept  Paris  as  the  place  of  meeting. 

"  In  case  the  princes,  alHes,  and  friends  of  France, 
should  think  proper  to  heighten  by  their  presence  the 
authority  of  the  deliberations,  I  shall  be  proud  to  offer 
them  my  cordial  hospitality.  Europe  would  see,  per- 
haps, some  advantage  in  the  capital,  from  which  the  sig-* 
nal  for  subversion  has  so  often  been  given,  becoming  the 
seat  of  the  conferences  destined  to  lay  the  basis  of  a 
general  pacification. 

"  I  seize  this  occasion,  &c., 

"Napoleon.'* 

In  the  speech  which  the  emperor  made  the  next  day 
at  the  opening  of  the  Legislative  Corps,  he  said,  — 

"  The  treaties  of  1815  have  ceased  to  exist.  The  force 
of  events  has  overthrown  them,  or  tends  to  overthrow 


SCHLESWIG   AND   HOLSTEIN.  159 

them,  almost  everywhere.  They  have  been  hroken  in 
Greece,  in  Belgium,  in  France,  in  Italy,  and  upon  the 
Danube.  Germany  is  in  agitation  to  change  them  ;  Eng- 
land has  generally  modified  them  by  the  cession  of  the 
Ionian  Islands ;  and  Russia  tramples  them  under  foot  at 
Wai-saw. 

"  In  the  midst  of  these  successive  violations  of  the 
fundamental  European  pact,  ardent  passions  are  excited. 
In  the  south,  as  in  the  north,  powerful  interests  demand 
a  solution.  What,  then,  can  be  more  legitimate  or  more 
useful  than  to  invite  the  powers  of  Europe  to  a  con- 
gress, in  which  self-interest  and  resistance  would  disap- 
pear before  a  supreme  arbitration  ?  What  can  be  more 
conformed  to  the  ideas  of  the  time,  to  the  wishes  of  the 
greater  number,  than  to  speak  to  the  conscience  and  the 
reason  of  the  statesmen  of  every  country,  and  say  to 
them,  — 

" '  Have  not  the  prejudices  and  the  rancor  which  di- 
vide us  lasted  long  enough  ?  Shall  the  jealous  rivalry 
of  the  great  powers  unceasingly  impede  the  progress  of 
civilization  ?  Are  we  still  to  maintain  mutual  distrust 
by  exaggerated  armaments  ?  Must  our  most  precious 
resources  be  indefinitely  exhausted  by  a  vain  display 
of  our  forces  ?  Must  we  eternally  maintain  a  state  of 
things  which  is  neither  peace  with  its  security,  nor  war 
with  its  fortunate  chances? 

" '  Let  us  no  longer  attach  a  fictitious  importance  to 
the  subversive  spirit  of  extreme  parties,  by  opposing  our- 
selves, on  narrow  calculations,  to  the  legitimate  aspira- 
tions of  peoples.  Let  us  have  the  courage  to  substitute 
for  a  state  of  things  sickly  and  precarious  a  situation 
solid  and  regular,  should  it  even  cost  us  sacrifices.  Let 
us  meet  without  preconceived  opinions,  without  exclu- 


160  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

sive  ambition,  animated  by  the  single  thought  of  estab- 
lishing an  order  of  things  founded,  for  the  future,  on  the 
well-understood  interests  of  sovereigns  and  peoples.' 
•  "  This  appeal,  I  am  happy  to  believe,  will  be  listened 
to  by  all.  A  refusal  would  suggest  secret  projects,  which 
shun  the  light.  But,  even  should  the  proposal  not  be 
unanimously  agreed  to,  it  would  secure  the  immense  ad- 
vantage of  having  pointed  out  to  Europe  where  the  dan- 
ger lies,  and  where  is  safety.  Two  paths  are  open :  the 
one  conducts  to  progress  by  concihation  and  peace  ;  the 
other,  sooner  or  later,  leads  fatally  to  war,  from  obstinacy 
in  maintaining  a  course  which  sinks  beneath  us. 

"  Such  is  the  language,  gentlemen,  which  I  propose 
to  address  to  Europe.  Approved  by  you,  sanctioned  by 
public  assent,  it  cannot  fail  to  be  listened  to,  since  I 
speak  in  the  name  of  France." 

The  address  of  the  Emperor  of  the  French  was  sent 
to  all  the  crowned  heads  in  Europe,  —  fifteen  in  number. 
England  declined  the  proposal.  In  a  letter  from  Earl 
Russell,  dated  Nov.  28,  1863,  it  was  stated,  — 

"Not  being  able  to  discern  the  likelihood  of  those 
beneficial  consequences  which  the  Emperor  of  the  French 
promised  himself  when  proposing  a  congress,  her  Ma- 
jesty's government,  following  their  own  strong  convic- 
tions, after  mature  deliberation,  feel  themselves  unable 
to  accept  his  imperial  Majesty's  invitation."  ^ 

Austria,  following  the  lead  of  England,  without  posi- 
tively declining,  did  not  accept,  the  proposal.     The  em- 

1  "  The  reception  of  the  proposal  of  the  emperor,  in  England,  was  generally 
unfavorable.  England  could  not  expect  any  territorial  aggrandizement  from  the 
congress,  but  only  the  loss  of  her  European  dependencies,  and,  in  particular, 
Gibraltar.  The  press,  almost  unanimously,  discouraged  a  participation  in  thn 
congress."  —  American  Annual  Cyclopadia,  1863,  p.  390. 


SCHLESWIG   AND  HOLSTEIN.  1G1 

peror  stated  that  the  treaties  of  1815  were  still  regarded 
by  Austria  as  the  public  law  of  Europe,  and  asked  sev- 
eral questions,  strangely  assuming  that  it  depended  upon 
France,  and  not  upon  the  congress,  to  decide  what  meas- 
ures should  be  discussed. 

Alexander  of  Russia  cordially  acceded  to  the  propo- 
sal. In  his  reply,  he  said,  "  My  most  ardent  desire  is  to 
spare  my  people  sacrifices  which  their  patriotism  accepts, 
but  from  which  their  prosperity  suffers.  Nothing  could 
better  hasten  this  moment  than  a  general  settlement  of 
the  questions  which  agitate  Europe.  A  loyal  under- 
standing between  the  sovereigns  has  alwa3's  appeared 
desirable  to  me.  I  should  be  happy  if  the  proposition 
emitted  by  j^our  Majesty  were  to  lead  to  it," 

All  the  other  crowned  heads  accepted  the  proposal 
with  much  cordiality.  Victor  Emanuel  of  Italy  wrote, 
"  I  adhere  with  pleasure  to  the  proposal  of  your  Majesty. 
My  concurrence,  and  that  of  my  people,  are  assured  to 
the  realization  of  this  project,  which  will  mark  a  great 
progress  in  the  history  of  mankind."  Louis  I.,  King  of 
Portugal,  who  had  married  one  of  the  daughters  of  Victor 
Emanuel,  wrote,  "  A  congress  before  war,  with  the  view 
of  averting  war,  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  noble  thought  of 
progress.  Whatever  may  be  the  issue,  to  France  will 
always  belong  the  glory  of  having  laid  the  foundation 
of  this  new  and  highly  philosophical  principle." 

The  3'outhful  King  of  Greece,  George  L,  who  was  the 

second  son  of  the  King  of  Denmark,  and  consequently 

brother  to  the   wife  of   the   Prince  of    Wales,   wrote, 

"  This  appeal  to  conciliation,  which  your  ]\Iajesty  has 

jist  made  in  tlie  interests  of  European  order,  has  been 

inspired  by  views  too  generous  and  too  elevated  not  to 

liud  iu  me  the  most  sympathetic  reception.     The  noble 
»  11 


1G2  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

thought  which  predominates  therein  could  not  be  better 
enhanced  than  by  the  frank  language  and  the  judicious 
considerations  with  which  your  Majesty  has  accompanied 
your  proposition." 

In  a  similar  strain,  the  kings  of  Belgium,  of  the 
Netherlands,  of  Denmark,  of  Bavaria,  Saxony,  Wurtem- 
berg,  and  Hanover,  expressed  their  approval  of  the  con- 
gress. The  Pope  was  prompt  in  his  acceptance.  Even 
the  Sultan  of  Turkey  gave  in  his  adhesion  to  the  plan, 
saying  that  he  should  be  glad  to  attend  the  congress  in 
person,  if  the  other  sovereigns  would  do  the  same.  The 
Swiss  Confederation  replied,  "  We  can  only,  there- 
fore, accept  with  eagerness  the  overture  your  Majesty 
has  deigned  to  make." 

It  was  regarded  as  essential  to  the  plan,  that  there 
should  be  a  general  congress  ;  that  all  the  leading  pow- 
ers should  unite.  If  any  should  refuse  to  join,  they 
would  also  refuse  to  be  bound  by  the  decisions  of  the 
congress :  thus  the  refusal  of  two  such  leading  powers 
as  England  and  Austria  thwarted  the  measure. 

After  all  the  replies  were  received,  the  French  minis- 
ter, M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys,  in  the  name  of  the  French 
Government,  issued  another  circular  to  the  European 
courts,  with  a  summary  of  the  responses,  and  giving  the 
following  as  the  result :  — 

"  The  refusal  of  England  has,  unfortunately,  rendeied 
impossible  the  first  result  we  had  hoped  for  from  the  a])- 
peal  of  the  emperor  to  Europe.  There  now  remains  the 
second  hypothesis,  —  the  limited  congress.  Its  realiza- 
tion depends  upon  the  will  of  the  sovereigns.  After  the 
refusal  of  the  British  cabinet,  we  might  consider  oar 
duty  accomplished,  and  henceforth,  in  the  events  whicli 
may  arise,  only  take  into  account  our  own  convenience 


SCHLESWIG   AND   HOLSTEIN.         ,  163 

and  our  own  particular  interests  ;  but  we  prefer  to  rec- 
ognize the  favorable  dispositions  wliich  have  been  dis- 
played toward  us,  and  to  remind  the  sovereigns  who 
have  associated  themselves  Avith  our  intentions  that  we 
are  ready  to  enter  frankly  with  them  upon  the  path  of  a 
common  understanding." 

The  Emperor  of  the  French  was  much  disappointed  at 
this  result.  In  a  letter  written  soon  after  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Rouen,  dated  Jan.  14,  1864,  he  wrote,  — 

"  You  are  right  in  saying  that  the  honors  of  the  Avorld 
are  heavy  burdens  Avliich  Providence  imposes  upon  us. 
Thus  I  often  ask  myself  if  good  fortune  has  not  as  many 
tril)ulations  as  adversity.  But,  in  both  cases,  our  guide 
and  support  is  faith,  —  religious  faith  and  political  faitli ; 
that  is  to  say,  confidence  in  God,  and  the  consciousness 
of  a  mission  to  accomplish." 

In  the  mean  time.  Count  Bismarck  had  submitted  to  the 
syndics  of  the  crown  of  Prussia  at  Berlin  the  question 
of  the  legal  title  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  duchies  of 
Schleswig  and  Ilolstein.  After  several  conferences, 
tliese  legal  gentlemen  decided  that  tlie  King  of  Denmark 
had  been  the  legitimate  heir,  but  that  the  duchies  noio 
belonged,  by  right  of  conquest,  to  Austria  and  Prussia. 

This  curious  decision,  it  is  said,  was  brought  about  by 
the  diplomatic  skill  of  Count  Bismarck.  Until  this  time, 
Austria  had  never  laid  any  claim  whatever  to  the  duch- 
ies. Francis  Joseph  was  as  much  surprised  as  he  was 
gratified  to  learn  that  one-half  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  duchies  enured  to  him.  As,  however,  the  duchies 
were  at  a  great  distance  from  Austria,  and  consequently 
of  but  little  value  to  tliat  kingdom,  Count  Bismarck 
supposed  that  Francis  Joseph  would  sell,  for  a  considera- 
tion, liis  share  of  the  sovereignty.     Prussia,  accordingly, 


164  HISTORY   OP  PRUSSIA. 

offered  Austria  sixty  millions  of  dollars  for  the  relin- 
quishment of  her  title. 

Austria  refused  :  she  would  only  consent  that  Prussia 
should,  for  the  present,  hold  Schleswig,  while  Austria 
should  hold  Holstein.  This  agreement  was  entered  into 
at  what  was  called  the  Convention  of  Gastein,  which 
was  held  in  August,  1869.  Both  France  and  England 
announced  in  diplomatic  notes  their  dissatisfaction  with 
this  arrangement.  Austria  appointed  Marshal  von 
Gablenz  governor  of  her  newly-acquired  province  of 
Holstein.  Prussia  appointed  Gen.  von  Manteuffel  gov- 
ernor of  Schleswig.  The  duchies  were  quite  dissatisfied 
with  this  arrangement.  A  large  majority  of  the  people 
in  both  duchies  sent  memorials  to  the  federal  diet,  pro- 
testing against  the  division  of  the  duchies,  and  demand- 
ing the  recognition  of  Duke  Frederick.  These  remon- 
strances of  the  people  were  of  no  avail. 

Count  Bismarck,  having  thus  annexed  Schleswig  to 
the  Prussian  crown,  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  ac- 
quisition of  Holstein.  The  agitations  in  other  parts  of 
Europe  greatly  favored  his  plans.  The  Prussian  army 
was  placed  on  a  war-footing.  Negotiations  were  opened 
with  Victor  Emanuel  in  Italy,  stating,  that  if,  while 
Prussia  should  attack  Austria  upon  the  north,  Italy 
should  assail  Austria  from  the  south,  Venetia  could  be 
wrested  from  her  grasp,  and  re-annexed  to  Italy.  "  If 
you  will  help  us  gain  Holstein,"  said  Prussia,  "  we  will 
help  you  gain  Venetia." 

Having  thus  made  all  his  arrangements.  Count  Bis- 
marck demanded  the  surrender  of  Holstein.  The  reason 
assigned  for  this  demand  was  as  follows :  — 

"  King  William  I.  is  grievously  affected  to  see  devel- 
oped under  the  aegis  of  Austria  tendencies  revolutionary. 


SCHLESWIG  AND  HOLSTEIN.  1G5 

anti  hostile  to  all  the  thrones.  He  therefore  declares 
that  friendly  relations  no  longer  exist  between  Prussia 
and  Austria." 

This  astonishing  declaration,  that  Austria  was  allow- 
ing too  much  popidar  freedom  in  Holstein,  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  another,  in  which  it  was  declared  that  the 
repose  of  Prussia  rendered  it  necessary  that  the  gov- 
ernment should  pursue  with  firmness  the  annexation  of 
both  of  the  ducHies,  so  desirable  in  all  points  of  view. 

Still  this  was  not  a  positive  declaration  of  war.  Aus- 
tiia  inquired  of  Prussia  if  she  intended  to  break  the 
treaties  of  the  Convention  of  Gastein. 

"  No  ! "  was  the  characteristic  response  ;  "  but,  if  we 
had  that  intention,  we  should  tell  you  we  had  not." 

It  seems  to  have  been  an  avowed  principle  in  Euro- 
pean diplomacy,  that  sincerity  was  a  virtue  not  to  be 
expected  in  the  intercourse  of  cabinets.  In  one  of  Bis- 
marck's letters,  dated  Frankfort,  May  18,  1851,  he 
writes,  — 

"  I  am  maldng  enormous  progress  in  the  art  of  saying 
nothing  in  a* great  many  words.  I  write  reports  of  many 
sheets,  which  read  as  tersely  and  roundly  as  leading  arti- 
cles ;  and  if  Manteuffel  can  say  what  there  is  in  them, 
after  he  has  read  them,  he  can  do  more  than  I  can."  ^ 

»  Life  of  Bismarck,  p.  228. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


THE    LIBERATION    OF   ITALY. 


'O  understand  those  intrigues  of  cabinets 
and  those  majestic  military  movements 
which  have  recently  arrested  the  attention 
of  the  whole  civilized  world,  it  is  necessary 
that  there  should  be  brief  allusion  to  the 
Uberation  of  Italy  from  Austrian  domina- 
tion by  the  combined  armies  of  France 
and  Sardinia. 

By  the  treaties  of  1815,  the  constitutional  kingdoms 
of  Italy,  which,  by  the  aid  of  the  French  Empire,  had 
been  estabhshed  upon  the  foundation  of  equal  rights 
for  all  men,  were  overthrown.  Italy  was  cut  up  into 
petty  States,  over  which  the  old  despotic  regimes  were 
inaugurated.  Thus  parcelled  out,  most  of  these  States 
were  merely  provinces  of  Austria ;  and  the  vast  armies 
of  Austria  watched  with  an  eagle-eye,  ready  instantly  to 
quell  any  popular  uprising  in  any  part  of  the  Italian 
Peninsula.  The  Idngs,  dukes,  and  princes  whom  the 
allies  had  placed  over  these  petty  States,  were  the  guar- 
dians of  Austrian  despotism. 

Upon  the  re-establishment  of  the  empire  in  France  in 
1852,  the  popular  masses  all  over  Italy  were  greatly 
excited  with  the  desire  of  regaining  their  former  liber- 

IGG 


THE   LIBERATION   OP  ITALY.  167 

ties.  Victor  Emanuel  was  King  of  Sardinia ;  Count 
Cavour,  his  prime-minister.  They  applied  to  the  newly- 
elected  French  emperor  to  learn  if  France  would  sup- 
port Sardinia  against  Austria,  should  Sardinia  com- 
mence the  work  of  popular  reform  witliin  her  own 
kingdom.     The  pledge  was  promptly  given. 

Sardinia  entered  upon  enactments  of  liberty.  Schools 
were  established,  aristocratic  privileges  were  abolished, 
freedom  of  worship  was  proclaimed,  and  freedom  of 
the  press  restrained  only  by  laws  of  libel.  Austria 
vigorously  remonstrated,  and  gathered  an  army  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  troops  upon  the  Sardinian 
frontier.  These  reforms  in  Sardinia  would  excite  dis- 
content in  despotic  Austria. 

The  French  minister  in  Austria  informed  the  court 
in  Vienna,  in  very  significant  diplomatic  phrase,  "  that 
France  could  not  look  with  indifference  upon  the  in- 
vasion of  Sardinia  by  the  Austrian  troops." 

The  latter  part  of  April,  1859,  the  Austrian  troops 
crossed  the  Ticino,  and  commenced  a  rapid  march  upon 
Turin,  the  capital  of  Sardinia.  The  Emperor  of  France 
immediately  issued  a  proclamation,  dated  Tuileries, 
May  3,  1859,  containing  tlie  following  words:  — 

"  Austria,  in  causing  her  army  to  enter  the  territory 
of  the  King  of  Sardinia,  our  ally,  declares  war  against 
us.  She  thus  \'iolates  treaties,  justice,  and  menaces  our 
f  I'ontiers.  We  are  led  to  inquire  what  can  be  the  reason 
for  this  sudden  invasion.  Is  it  that  Austria  has  brought 
matters  to  this  extremity,  —  that  she  must  cither  rule 
up  to  the  Alps,  or  Italy  must  be  free  to  the  shores  of 
the  Adriatic  ? 

"  The  natural  allies  of  France  have  been  always  those 
who   seek   the  amelioration  of  humanity.     When   she 


168  HISTORY   OF  PllUSSIA. 

draws  the  sword,  it  is  not  to  subjugate,  but  to  liberate. 
The  object  of  this  war  is,  then,  to  restore  Italy  to  her- 
self, and  not  to  impose  upon  her  a  change  of  masters." 

Two  hundred  thousand  French  troops  were  imme- 
diately transported  to  the  plains  of  Sardinia.  The 
French  nation,  with  great  unanimity,  approved  of  the 
measure.  M.  Thiers,  leading  the  opposition  in  the  Legis- 
lative Corps,  severely  condemned  it.  He  declared  that 
enlightened  statesmanship  demanded  that  Italy  should 
be  kept  divided  into  fragmentary  States,  and  not  that  a 
strong  kingdom  of  twenty-five  millions  of  people  should 
be  organized  on  the  frontiers  of  France.  He  urged  that 
France  should  aid  in  maintaining  the  treaties  of  1815. 
But  the  voice  of  the  French  nation  was  almost  unani- 
mously with  the  government. 

After  a  series  of  sanguinary  conflicts,  the  Austrians 
were  driven  out  of  Sardinia.  Upon  the  plains  of  Ma- 
genta and  Solferino,  they  encountered  another  terrible 
defeat,  which  liberated  Lombardy.  All  Italy  now  rose 
in  insurrection  against  its  Austrian  oppressors.  The 
duchies  of  Tuscany,  Parma,  Modena,  chased  the  Aus- 
trian rulers  out  of  their  domains.  From  all  parts  of 
Italy,  the  young  men  crowded  to  the  liberating  banners 
of  France  and  Sardinia. 

All  dynastic  Europe  was  alarmed.  The  spirit  of  the 
old  French  Revolution  of  1789  seemed  to  have  burst 
from  its  long  burial,  and  to  be  again  menacing  every 
feudal  throne.  Hungarians  were  grasping  their  arms. 
Polanders  were  shouting  the  battle-cry  of  freedom. 
Ireland  was  clamoring  for  deliverance  from  that  English 
throne  by  which  it  had  been  so  terribly  oppressed. 

In  hot  haste,  a  coalition  was  formed  against  France 
and  regenerated  Italy.     It  was  not  only  the  wish  but 


THE  LIBERATION  OF  ITALY,  IGO 

the  intention  of  France  and  Sardinia  to  liberate  Vcnctia. 
Thus  all  Italy,  delivered  from  the  despotism  of  the 
Anstrians,  would  be  the  master  of  its  own  destinies,  and 
could  organize  such  institutions  as  it  might  see  fit  to 
adopt. 

England  has  always  chosen  alliance  with  despots, 
rather  than  with  the  advocates  of  popular  liberty.  If 
the  twenty-five  millions  of  Italy,  emancipated  by  the 
aid  of  French  armies,  were  to  be  consolidated  into  one 
kingdom  or  one  confederacy,  under  the  banner  of  the 
aljolition  of  aristocratic  privilege  and  the  establishment 
of  equal  rights  for  all,  Italy  and  France  would  be  in 
sympathy.  The  two  kingdoms,  renouncing  feudalism, 
would  support  each  other.  This  would  add  amazingly 
to  the  strength  of  the  principles  of  reform  throughout 
Europe. 

Under  these  circumstances,  England  and  Prussia  en- 
tered into  an  alliance,  and  informed  Sardinia  and  France, 
that,  if  they  made  any  attempt  whatever  to  liberate 
Venetia,  all  the  military  power  of  England  and  of 
Prussia  should  be  combined  with  that  of  Austria  to 
repel  the  movement. 

This  was  a  fearful  threat.  There  were  indications 
that  other  leading  northern  dynasties  would  also  co-ope- 
rate with  England  and  Prussia.  Tliis  would  surely  lead 
to  an  invasion  of  France  from  the  Rhine.  All  Europe 
would  thus  be  plunged  into  one  of  the  most  desolating 
wars  earth  ever  witnessed. 

Thus  the  liberating  army  of  Sardinia  and  France  was 
arrested  in  its  march.  The  poor  Venetians,  to  their  un- 
utterable disappointment,  were  left  bound  more  firmly 
than  ever,  hand  and  foot,  in  Austrian  cliains.  The  peauo 
of  Villafranca,  wliich  liberated  all  of  Italy  except  Vene- 


170  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

tia  from  Austrian  rule,  sounded  the  deatli-knell  of  tliose 
peoples,  who,  not  in  Venetia  only,  but  in  Hungary,  in 
Poland,  and  in  various  other  parts  of  Europe,  were  rising 
to  break  their  chains. 

There  is  something  very  affecting  in  the  tones  in 
which  the  noble  Kossuth  pleaded,  and  pleaded  in  vain, 
with  the  British  cabinet,  not  to  intervene  against  Ve- 
netia, and  in  favor  of  Austria.  The  sympathies  of  the 
British  people  were  cordially  with  Kossuth.  In  his 
celebrated  speech  in  the  London  Tavern  on  the  20th 
of  May,  1859,  the  lord-mayor  being  in  the  chair,  the 
eloquent  Hungarian  said,  — 

"  Now,  my  lord,  I  do  not  remember  to  have  heard  one 
single  official  or  semi-official  declaration,  that,  if  her 
Majesty's  government  were  not  to  remain  neutral,  they 
would  side  with  Sardinia  and  France  against  Austria ; 
but  I  have  heard  many  declarations  forcibly  leading  to 
the  inference  that  the  alternative  was  either  neutrality, 
or  the  support  of  Austria.  We  are  told,  that,  if  a 
French  fleet  should  enter  the  Adriatic,  it  might  be  for 
the  interest  of  England  to  oppose  it ;  that,  if  Trieste 
were  attacked,  it  might  be  for  the  interest  of  England  to 
defend  it ;  that  it  might  be  for  the  interest  of  England 
to  defend  Venice.  From  what  ?  Of  course,  from  the 
great  misfortune  of  being  emancipated  from  Austria. 

"  I  love  my  fatherland  more  than  myself,  —  more  than 
any  thing  on  earth.  Inspired  by  this  love,  I  ask  one 
boon,  one  only  boon,  from  England ;  and  that  is,  that  she 
shall  not  support  Austria.  England  has  not  interfered 
for  liberty  :  let  her  not  interfere  for  the  worst  of  despot- 
isms, — Austria." 

Ta  this  imploring  cry  the  cabinet  of  St.  James  paid 
no  heed.      England  united  with  Prussia  to  help  Austria 


TOE   LIBERATION   OF  ITALY.  171 

hold  Venetia.  Thus  Venetians  and  Hungarians  were 
left  to  groan  in  their  chains.  England,  as  well  as  aU  the 
other  feudal  monarchies,  has  ever  been  in  great  dread  of 
any  republican  movement.  A  large  part  of  the  repub- 
licans hoped,  that  by  a  compromise,  in  which  monarchi- 
cal forms  should  be  retained,  this  hostility  might  be  in 
some  degree  disarmed,  and  that  under  these  forms  the 
spirit  of  repubhcan  equality  might  be  established  without 
provoking  the  armed  hostility  of  Europe. 

Father  Gavazzi,  one  of  the  most  renowned  champions 
of  Italian  liberation,  in  a  letter  written  to  influence  the 
British  cabinet,  dated  Aug.  4,  1860,  says,  — 

"  We  fight  for  the  sole  purpose  of  uniting  all  Italy 
under  the  constitutional  sceptre  of  Victor  Emanuel. 
Let  Englishmen  repudiate  the  idea  that  there  is  any 
thing  republican  in  the  present  movement;  since  the 
most  ardent  advocates  of  republicanism  have  sacrificed 
theu'  views  to  the  great  cause  of  our  independence, 
unity,  and  constitutional  liberties.  Be  sure,  that,  if  there 
is  no  intervention  in  our  figlitings,  we  shall  arrive  to 
crown  in  the  capital  our  dear  Victor  Emanuel  king  of 
Italy." 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs,  when  Bismarck,  who 
had  aided  England  in  preventing  the  liberation  of  Ve- 
netia, suddenly  changed  his  policy.  He  had  for  years 
been  maturing  his  plans  to  consolidate  Germany  in  one 
great  empire,  with  the  King  of  Prussia  at  its  head. 
In  that  enterprise,  Austria  was  Prussia's  only  rival. 
Bismarck  had  made  tlie  most  extraordinary  preparation 
for  war  with  Austria  Ijy  raising  an  immense  army,  giving 
it  the  most  perfect  organization  and  discipline,  and  arm 
ing  it  with  the  most  deadly  weapons. 

Still  Austria  was  a  very  formidable  military  power. 


172  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA, 

With  her  supremacy  in  Germairy,  she  could  bring  a  much 
larger  force  into  the  field  than  Prussia,  though  that  ener- 
getic little  kingdom  had  arrayed  every  able-bodied  man 
under  her  banners.  Bismarck,  therefore,  sent  a  confi- 
dential envoy  to  Victor  Emanuel  to  inform  him  that 
Prussia  was  about  to  attack  Austria  from  the  north  to 
obtain  possession  of  both  of  the  Elbe  duchies  ;  that  this 
would  furnish  Italy  with  an  admirable  opportunity,  by 
co-operating  in  an  attack  upon  the  south,  to  wrest  Ve- 
netia  from  Austria. 

Italy  eagerly  availed  herself  of  the  opportunity, 
though  perfectly  aware  that  she  owed  no  thanks  to 
Prussia,  who  was  consulting  only  her  own  interests  in 
the  alliance.  Thus  the  great  Germanic  war,  so  fatal  to 
Austria,  was  ushered  in. 

"  The  London  Times  "  of  Dec.  12, 1866,  contained  the 
following  very  just  tribute  to  the  efforts  of  the  Emperor 
of  the  French  for  the  hberation  of  Italy  :  — 

"  The  Italians  must  acknowledge  in  the  Emperor  of 
the  French  their  greatest,  most  unwearied,  most  gener- 
ous benefactor.  To  the  Italians,  the  emperor  has  always 
been,  at  heart,  that  Louis  Napoleon  who  took  up  arms 
for  Italy,  and  against  the  temporal  power,  five  and  thirty 
years  ago.  It  seems  as  if  some  vow  made  by  the  bed- 
side of  his  brother,  dying  in  his  arms  at  Forli,  swayed 
Napoleon's  mind  through  life,  and  bade  him  go  firmly, 
however  slowly,  to  his  goal.  In  aU  other  measures,  in 
any  other  home  or  foreign  policy,  the  emperor  had 
friends  and  opponents ;  but  the  Italian  game  was 
played  by  him  single-handed,  and  the  game  is  won." 

M.  Thiers,  as  we  have  mentioned,  was  bitterly  opposed 
to  the  aid  which  the  imperial  government  lent  Italy  in 
escaping  from  Austrian  domination,  and  becoming  a  con- 


THE  LIBERATION   OF  ITALY.  173 

BoliJated  kingdom.  In  his  celebrated  speech  before 
the  Legislative  Corps  on  the  18th  of  March,  18G7,  he 
said,  — 

"  As  for  me,  when  distinguished  Italians  have  spoken 
to  me  of  unity,  I  have  said  to  them, '  No,  no,  never  !  For 
my  part,  I  will  never  consent  to  it.'  And  if,  at  the  time 
when  that  question  came  up,  I  had  had  the  honor  to  hold 
in  my  hands  the  affairs  of  France,  I  would  not  have  con- 
sented to  it.  I  would  say  to  you  even,  that,  upon  that 
question,  the  friendship,  very  ardent  and  sincere,  which 
existed  between  Monsieur  Cavour  and  me,  has  been  in- 
terrupted." ^ 

The  imperial  government  has  been  consistent  and  un- 
wavering in  its  approval  of  Italian  unity  and  German 
unity.  But  for  the  aid  of  France,  Italy  could  by  no  pos- 
sibility have  shaken  off  the  yoke  of  Austria,  and  have 
become  consolidated ;  and  nothing  would  have  been 
easier  than  for  France  to  have  united  her  armies  with 
those  of  Austria,  and,  thus  driving  back  the  invading 
Prussians  to  their  native  Brandenburg,  to  have  pre- 
vented the  unification  of  Germany.  Truly  does  M. 
Thiers  say,  that  France  created  the  unification  of  Italy, 
and  i)ermitted  that  of  Germany. 

1  "Je  vous  dirais  memc,  sur  cette  question,  I'amitid  tres  sincere  et  tr^a 
Vive,  qui  existe  entre  M.  Cavour  et  moi,  a  iii  iiiterrompue."  —  Mwiiteur,  Msu-cli 
16, 1867. 


CHAPTER     XIII. 


THE    GERMAN    WAR. 


USTRIA,  which  had  just  emerged  from  a 
disastrous  war  with  Italy  aided  by  France, 
and  now  menaced  with  war  by  Prussia  aided 
by  newly-united  Italy,  had  a  standing  army 
at  her  disposal  of  nine  hundred  thousand 
men.  Prussia,  having  mobilized  her  whole 
force,  could  bring  six  hundred  thousand  into 
the  field.  Under  the  Italian  banners,  four  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  troops  were  marshalled.  Thus  Prussia 
and  Italy  united  could  bring  over  a  milhon  of  men  to 
assail  Austria  in  front  and  rear. 

It  was  necessary  for  Austria  to  divide  her  forces  to 
meet  this  double  assault.  Strong  garrisons  were  also 
requisite  to  hold  the  Hungarians  in  subjection,  who 
seemed  upon  the  eve  of  rising.  An  outbreak  in  Hun- 
gary would  surely  lead  to  an  insurrection  in  Poland. 
This  would  bring  the  armies  of  Russia  into  the  arena. 
Thus  all  Europe  was  menaced  with  war. 

In  view  of  this  awful  conflagration  which  now  threat- 
ened Europe,  and  to  avert  which  the  Emperor  of  the 
French  had   proposed  a  congress,  England  manifested 
regret  in  not  having  acceded  to  that  pacific  overture. 
Lord  Cowley  was  sent  in  haste  with  a  despatch  from 

174 


THE  GEUMAN   WAR.  175 

Lord  Clarendon  to  the  Emperor  of  the  French,  contain- 
ing the  announcement  that  England  would  withdraw 
her  declinature  to  the  proposal  of  a  congress,  and  was 
now  prepared  to  unite  with  France  in  that  measure. 
The  reply  which  the  Emperor  of  the  French  made,  as 
reported  to  the  British  cabinet  by  Lord  Cowley,  was  as 
follows :  — 

"  In  1859,  England  refused  to  assist  me  in  the  libera- 
tion of  Italy,  and,  by  her  coalition  with  Germany,  com- 
pelled me  to  stop  short,  leaving  the  work  undone. 

"  When  in  1864  I  proposed  a  congress  for  the  pur- 
pose of  removing  the  endless  complications  which  I 
foresaw  would  result  from  the  Danish  war,  it  was  still 
England  that  opposed  my  project,  and  did  her  utmost  to 
make  it  abortive. 

"  Now  she  wants  peace,  even  at  the  price  of  the  con- 
gress which  she  then  rejected.  I  will,  however,  assure 
her  jNIajesty  that  I  am  ready  to  do  all  I  can  to  prevent 
war ;  but,  as  the  most  favorable  opportunity  for  doing 
so  has  passed,  I  can  no  longer  take  upon  myself  the  re- 
sponsibility for  any  event  that  may  occur." 

M.  Thiers,  in  his  very  eloquent  speech  in  the  Legisla- 
tive Coi-ps  against  the  liberation  of  Italy,  had  said,  — 

"  No  sovereign  should  create  voluntarily,  on  his  own 
frontier,  a  state  of  twenty-five  millions  of  inhabitants. 
By  committing  such  a  fault,  we  have  not  promoted  the 
welfare  of  France,  of  Italy,  or  of  Europe." 

The  ambitious  desires  of  Prussia  to  unite  all  Germany 
under  one  empire,  either  roused  M.  Thiers'  apprehen- 
sions anew,  or  presented  him  another  favorable  opportu- 
nity to  attack  the  imperial  government.  He  united  with 
the  democrats  in  this  opposition,  hoping  to  reconstruct 
upon  the  ruins  of  the  empire  the  Orleans  throne.      On 


176  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

the  other  hand,  the  democrats  hoped  upon  those  ruins 
to  rear  a  republic. 

With  terrible  energies  of  denunciation,  M.  Thiers 
condemned  the  government  of  being  "guilty  of  the 
greatest  of  all  possible  blunders  "  in  allowing  the  forma- 
tion of  a  united  Germany.  With  great  powers  of  elo- 
quence, he  called  upon  France  to  rouse  all  her  military 
strength  to  resist  the  ambitious  encroachments  of 
Prussia. 

It  is  clear,  that,  had  France  then  pursued  the  policy 
urged  by  Thiers,  Prussia  could  have  been  overwhelmed. 
Comparatively  weak  as  Prussia  then  was,  France,  aided 
by  Austria,  could,  with  all  ease,  have  driven  the  Prus- 
sians across  the  Rhine,  and  have  regained  her  ancient 
boundary.  Thus  the  terrible  humiliation  which  now 
overwhelms  France  would  have  been  averted ;  and  the 
empire,  protected  by  the  Rhine,  could  bid  defiance  to 
German  invasion. 

But,  in  pursuing  this  course,  France  must  have  proved 
false  to  her  most  sacredly-avowed  principle  of  allowing 
the  people  of  each  nationality  to  unite  in  a  consolidated 
government.  She  would  also  have  been  compelled  to 
send  her  soldiers,  fresh  from  the  fields  of  Magenta  and 
Solferino,  to  fight  against  the  unification  of  Italy,  by 
aiding  Austria  to  retain  her  hold  upon  Venetia.  The 
empire  refused  thus  to  ignore  its  principles,  and  embrace 
in  their  stead  the  doctrine  of  political  expediency. 

Therefore,  in  opposition  to  the  forcible  arguments  of 
M.  Thiers,  the  imperial  government  emphatically  re- 
avowed  its  adhesion  to  the  doctrine  of  "  nationalities." 

This  doctrine  had  been  unfolded  in  the  following 
terms  by  the  Emperor  Napoleon  I.  at  St.  Helena  :  — 

"  One  of  my  great  plans,"  said  Napoleon  to  Las  Casas 


THE   GERMAN   WAR.  177 

on  the  11th  of  November,  1816,  "  was  the  rejoining,  the 
concentration,  of  those  same  geographical  nations  which 
have  been  disunited  and  parcelled  out  by  revolution  and 
pohcy.  There  are  dispersed  in  Europe  upwards  of 
thirty  millions  of  French,  fifteen  millions  of  Spaniards, 
fifteen  milUons  of  Italians,  and  thirty  millions  of  Ger- 
mans ;  and  it  was  my  intention  to  incorporate  these  sev- 
eral people  each  into  one  nation.  It  would  have  been 
a  noble  thing  to  have  advanced  into  posterity  with  such 
a  train,  and  attended  by  the  blessings  of  future  ages.  I 
felt  myself  worthy  of  this  glory. 

"  In  this  state  of  things,  there  would  have  been  some 
chance  of  establishing  in  every  country  a  unity  of 
codes,  of  principles,  of  opinions,  of  sentiments,  views, 
and  interests ;  then  perhaps,  by  the  help  of  the  uni- 
versal diffusion  of  knowledge,  one  might  have  thought 
of  attempting  in  the  great  European  family  the  appli- 
cation of  the  American  Congress,  or  of  the  Amphicty- 
ons  of  Greece.  V/hat  a  perspective  of  power,  grandeur, 
liappiness,  and  prosperity,  would  thus  have  appeared  ! 

'^  Tlie  concentration  of  thirty  or  forty  millions  of 
Frenclimen  was  completed  and  perfected  ;  that  of  fifteen 
millions  of  Spaniards  was  nearly  accomplished.  Three 
or  four  years  would  have  restored  the  Spaniards  to  pro- 
found peace  and  brilliant  prosperity.  They  would  liave 
become  a  compact  nation,  and  I  should  have  well  de- 
served then-  gratitude;  for  I  should  have  saved  them 
from  the  tyranny  with  which  they  are  now  oppressed, 
and  from  the  terrible  agitations  that  await  them. 

"  With  regard  to  the  fifteen  millions  of  Italians,  their 
concentration  was  already  far  advanced :  it  only  wanted 
maturity.  The  people  were  daily  becoming  more  estab- 
lislied  in  the  unity  of  principles  and  legislation,  and  also 


178  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

in  the  unity  of  thouglit  and  feeling,  —  that  certain  and 
infallible  cement  of  human  concentration.  The  union 
of  Piedmont  to  France,  and  the  junction  of  Parma, 
Tuscany,  and  Rome,  were,  in  my  mind,  only  temporary 
measures,  intended  merely  to  guarantee  and  promote  the 
national  education  of  the  Italians. 

"  All  the  south  of  Europe  would  soon  have  been  ren- 
dered compact  in  point  of  locality,  views,  opinions,  sen- 
timents, and  interests.  The  concentration  of  the  Ger- 
mans must  have  been  effected  more  gradually ;  and 
therefore  I  had  done  no  more  than  simplify  their  mon- 
strous complication.  How  happens  it  that  no  German 
prince  has  yet  formed  a  just  notion  of  the  spirit  of  his 
nation,  and  turned  it  to  good  account?  Certainly,  if 
Heaven  had  made  me  a  prince  of  Germany,  I  should 
infallibly  have  governed  the  thirty  millions  of  Germans 
combined. 

"  At  all  events,  this  concentration  will  certainly  be 
brought  about,  sooner  or  later,  by  the  very  force  of 
events.  The  impulse  is  given ;  and  I  tliink,  that  since 
my  fall,  and  the  destruction  of  my  system,  no  grand 
equiLibrium  can  possibly  be  established  in  Europe,  except 
by  the  concentration  and  confederation  of  the  principal 
nationalities.  The  sovereign  who,  in  the  first  great  con- 
flict, shall  sincerely  embrace  the  cause  of  the  people, 
will  find  himseK  at  the  head  of  all  Europe,  and  may 
attempt  whatever  he  pleases."  ^ 

In  advocacy  of  these  views,  France  had  assisted  in 
liberating  the  Italians  from  the  thraldom  of  Austria,  and 
in  promoting  the  unification  of  Italy.  The  emperor  had 
also  stated,  ia  an  address  to  the  Corps  L^gislatif,  that 

*  Abbott's  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena,  pp.  272-274. 


THE   GERMAN  WAR.  179 

France  had  neither  the  right  nor  tlic  disposition  to  inter- 
fere with  the  attempts  which  might  be  made  for  the  uni- 
fication of  Germany.  These  views  were  very  violently 
assailed  by  the  opposition,  consisting  of  united  legiti- 
mists and  republicans. 

In  the  German  war,  France  remained  neutral.  The 
hostile  armies  were  soon  upon  the  move.  Two  millions 
of  men,  along  lines  hundreds  of  leagues  in  extent, 
armed  with  the  most  formidable  weapons  of  modern 
warfare,  were  rusliing  against  each  other.  Europe 
looked  on,  appalled  by  the  spectacle.  The  genius  of 
Bismarck  was  conspicuous  on  this  occasion.  For  years 
he  had  been  preparing  for  the  struggle  which  he  knew 
that  the  measures  he  was  introducing  would  inaugurate. 
The  Prussian  army  was  in  the  highest  state  of  discipline  ; 
all  the  material  of  war  abundant,  and  in  the  right  posi- 
tion ;  and  the  infantry  were  provided  with  arms  capable 
of  such  rapidity  of  fire,  that,  in  effective  service,  one 
Prussian  could  throw  as  many  bullets  as  three  Austrians. 

War  was  declared  on  the  18th  of  June,  18GG,  with  the 
usual  appeal  to  God,  on  both  sides,  for  his  aid,  and  the 
usual  declaratiou  that  each  party  had  drawn  the  sword 
only  in  defence  of  justice  and  liberty.  At  a  given  sig- 
nal, the  Prussian  armies  from  the  north  plunged  simul- 
taneously and  impetuously  into  the  Austrian  provinces. 
At  the  same  time,  the  Italians  from  the  south,  in  divis- 
ions whose  united  strength  amounted  to  four  hundred 
thousand  men,  rushed  into  Venetia. 

The  reader  wouhl  be  weary  with  the  details  of  the 
battles,  —  the  cliarges  and  tlie  repulses,  the  awful  scenes 
of  carnage,  conflagration,  and  misery,  which  ensued. 
For  forty  days,  this  tempest  of  war  raged  with  scarcely 
a  moment's  intermission.     The  spectacle  was  sucli  an 


180  .HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

had  seldom  been  witnessed  on  earth  before.  The  disci- 
pHne  of  the  armies,  their  numbers,  and  the  murderous 
engines  of  war  which  they  wielded,  secured  results  which 
had  never  before  been  accomplished  in  so  short  a  period. 

The  advance  of  the  Prussian  armies  was  almost  as 
resistless  as  the  sweep  of  the  tornado  or  of  the  ava- 
lanche. Their  path  was  over  smouldering  ruins,  and 
through  pools  of  blood,  as  they  drove  before  them  their 
foes,  ever  desperately  fighting.  With  perfect  organiza- 
tion, and  armed  with  the  terrible  ne(;dle-gun,  they  over- 
ran kingdoms,  dukedoms,  and  principalities  almost  as 
fast  as  armies  could  march. 

Francis  Joseph,  in  terror,  was  compelled  to  withdraw 
his  troops  from  Venetia,  to  repel,  if  possible,  the  Prus- 
sian advance  upon  his  capital.  Too  proud  to  surrender 
the  province  to  the  Italians,  he  transferred  it  to  France. 
It  was  probably  his  hope  that  France,  in  possession  of 
so  magnificent  a  pledge,  would  be  able,  by  some  friendly 
intervention,  to  arrest  those  devastations  of  war  which 
the  imperial  government  had,  before  hostilities  com- 
menced, endeavored  to  avert  by  means  of  a  congress ; 
but  Prussia,  now  flushed  with  victory,  would  listen  to 
no  terms  but  such  as  she  herself  might  dictate. 

France  immediately  surrendered  Venetia  to  Italy. 
Kossuth  was  in  Italy,  shouting  the  war-cry,  and  calling 
upon  the  Hungarians  to  rush  into  the  Italian  ranks. 

"  Hungarians  ! "  he  exclaimed,  "  flock  to  the  standard 
of  Victor  Emanuel :  here  is  your  place  of  honor.  Aus- 
tria is  our  enemy.  Italy  gave  shelter,  bread,  and  kind- 
ness to  the  exiled  Hungarians. 

"  Italy  is  for  Italians :  Hungary  is  for  the  Hungarians. 
Out  with  Austria  from  Italy  !  Out  with  Austria  from 
Hungary  I     Come  here,  my  braves !  I  await  you  ;  and  I 


^3S   H  lUO^^     ,; 


THE   GERMAN   WAR.  181 

call  upon  3^011  also  iu  the  name  of  Garibaldi,  who  is 
ready  to  draw  his  glorious  sword  in  behalf  of  Hungary, 
which  will  rise  and  break  her  chains." 

In  the  terrible  battle  of  Sadowa,  which  was  fought 
near  a  small  village  of  that  name,  about  five  miles  from 
Koniggratz,  the  mihtary  power  of  Austria  was,  for  the 
time  being,  broken  down.  In  that  conflict  there  were 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  engaged  on  each 
side.  The  very  hiUs  trembled  beneath  the  concussion 
of  fifteen  hundred  pieces  of  artillery.  The  Austrians 
were  utterly  routed,  and  with  dreadful  slaughter.  In  a 
campaign  of  seven  weeks,  Austria  had  lost  nearly  one 
hundred  thousand  men. 

The  banners  of  the  victorious  Prussians  were  now 
visible  from  the  steeples  of  Vienna.  Further  resistance 
was  hopeless.  Humiliated  Austria,  prostrate  and  bleed- 
ing, was  compelled  to  accede  to  whatever  terms  the  con- 
queror proposed.  Prussia  demanded  the  sovereignty 
over  all  the  provinces  she  had  overrun.  Thus  she 
obtained  both  Schleswig  and  Holstcin,  the  kingdom  of 
Hanover,  the  kingdom  of  Saxony,  the  magnificent  duke- 
dom of  Saxony,  large  parts  of  Bohemia,  Austrian  Silesia, 
and  Bavaria,  wdth  minor  dukedoms  and  principalities 
too  numerous  to  mention. 

Though  there  was,  at  first,  a  slight  disposition  mani- 
fested by  Prussia  to  veil  these  conquests  behind  tlie 
verbiage  of  diplomatic  phrases  and  pious  utterances,  it 
was  soon  evident  that  all  these  realms  were  virtually 
annexed  to  the  Prussian  kingdom.  In  a  campaign  of 
about  forty  days.  Count  Bismarck  had  doubled  the  ter- 
ritory, and  doubled  the  population,  of  Prussia.  Thus 
suddenly,  Prussia,  from  a  second-rate  kingdom,  liad  risen 
to  an  equality  in  rank  with   tlic  most  powerful   mon- 


182  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

archies  in  Europe.  In  population  and  in  military 
strength,  she  was  fully  equal  to  France.  In  addition  to 
this,  she  held  both  banks  of  the  Rhine.  Prussia  could 
thus,  from  her  strong  fortresses  on  the  Rhine,  invade 
France  at  her  pleasure.  Should  she  meet  with  any  re- 
verse, her  armies  could  retire  behind  that  broad  and 
rapid  river,  both  banks  frowning  with  Prussian  fortress- 
es, and  bid  defiance  to  pursuit. 

The  door  from  Prussia  into  France  was  wide  open : 
tlie  door  from  France  into  Prussia  was  hermetically 
sealed. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


FRANCE    DEMANDS    HER    ANCIENT    BOUNDARY. 


N  consequence  of  the  immense  conquests 
made  by  Prussia,  France  found  herself  with- 
out any  natural  boundary  to  protect  herself 
from  one  of  tlie  most  formidable  of  European 
powers.  By  the  treaties  of  1815,  the  allies 
had  placed  in  the  hands  of  Prussia  both 
banks  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Valley  of  the 


n 

Moselle. 

The  avowed  object  of  this  cession  to  Prussia  of  those 
provinces  south  of  the  Rhine  which  had  belonged  to 
France  was  to  deprive  France  of  any  available  northern 
boundary ;  so  that,  should  there  be  another  popular 
uprising  in  France,  an  avenue  would  be  opened,  lined 
with  Prussian  fortresses,  through  which  the  allied  troops 
might  march  into  the  heart  of  the  kingdom. 

All  France  now  became  agitated  with  the  new  peril 
with  which  the  empire  was  menaced.  A  rival  nation, 
with  institutions  in  many  respects  hostile  to  those  of 
France,  and,  in  all  the  elements  of  national  power,  the 
equal  of  France  ;  a  nation  ambitious,  encroaching,  and 
with  apparently  boundless  designs  of  enlargement,  — 
had  the  command  of  the  portals  of  the  empire  from  the 
north.    And  this  government,  adhering  to  feudal  abso- 


183 


184  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

lutism,  was  bitterly  hostile  to  tlie  republican  principles 
wliicli  the  empire  advocated. 

In  a  speech  which  M.  Thiers  addressed  the  Legislative 
Corps  on  the  3d  of  December,  1867,  he  said,  — 

"  The  Germanic  Confederation,  which,  for  fifty  years, 
has  been  the  principal  authority  for  maintaining  the 
peace  of  the  world,  has  disappeared,  and  has  been  re- 
placed by  a  military  monarchy,  which  disposes  of  forty 
millions  of  men.  You  are  placed  between  two  unities,  — 
one  of  which,  Italy,  you  made ;  and  the  other,  Prussia, 
you  permitted.  They  are  joining  hands  over  the  Alps. 
They  only  consent  to  preserve  peace  on  condition  that 
you  will  allow  the  one  to  complete  itself  by  seizing  upon 
the  States  of  the  pope,  and  the  other  to  swallow  up  the 
German  governments  of  the  south.  Such  is  the  situa- 
tion ;  and  I  defy  any  one  to  deny  it." 

In  the  course  of  this  exciting  debate,  the  French 
minister,  M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys,  read  a  letter  from  the 
Emperor  of  the  French  in  reference  to  the  proposed 
congress,  containing  the  following  sentiments  :  — 

"  Had  the  conference  assembled,  my  government 
would  have  declared  that  France  repudiated  all  idea  of 
territorial  aggrandizement  so  long  as  the  European  equi- 
librium remained  undisturbed. 

"  We  should  have  deshed  for  the  German  confederacy 
a  position  more  worthy  of  its  importance,  —  for  Prussia, 
better  geographical  boundaries ;  for  Austria,  the  main- 
tenance of  her  distinguished  position  in  Europe  after 
the  cession  of  Venetia  to  Italy  in  exchange  for  territo- 
rial compensation. 

"  France  could  only  think  of  an  extension  of  her  fron- 
tiers in  the  event  of  the  map  of  Europe  being  altered  to 
the  profit  of  a  great  p>oiver^  and  of  the  bordering  provinces 


FRANCE  DEMANDS  HER  ANCIENT  BOUNDARY.      185 

expressing  hi)  a  formal  and  free  vote  their  desire  for 
annexation^  ^ 

Alluding  to  the  severe  attacks  upon  the  government 
for  refusing  to  oppose  the  unification  of  Germany,  the 
emperor  had  said  in  his  discourse  at  the  opening  of  the 
session  of  the  Legislative  Corps,  on  the  loth  of  Feb- 
ruary, 18G5, — 

"  In  reference  to  the  conflict  wliich  has  risen  upon  the 
Baltic,  my  government,  cherishing  sympathies  for  Den- 
mark, and  kind  wishes  for  Germany,  has  observed  the 
strictest  neutrality.  Summoned  in  a  conference  to  ex- 
press its  opinion,  it  has  limited  itself  to  the  avowal  of 
the  principle  of  nationalities,  and  of  the  right  of  the  pop- 
ulations to  be  consulted  respecting  their  destiny.  Our 
language,  corresponding  with  the  attitude  which  we  wish 
to  preserve,  has  been  moderate,  and  friendly  towards 
both  parties."  ^ 

It  is  a  little  remarkable,  that  while  the  illustrious 
French  statesman,  M.  Thiers,  so  severely  censures  the 
emperor  for  befriending  German  unity,  the  illustrious 
American  senator,  Mr.  Sumner,  with  equal  severity  con- 
demns him  for  opposing  that  unity. 

"  Early  in  life,"  says  Mr.  Sumner,  "  a  '  charcoal '  con- 
spirator against  kings,  he  now  became  a  crowned  con- 
spirator against  republics.  The  name  of  a  republic  was 
to  him  a  reproof;  while  its  glory  was  a  menace.  Against 
the  Roman  republic  he  conspired  early ;  and,  when  the 
rebellion  waged  by  slavery  seemed  to  afford  opportunity, 
he  conspired  against  our  republic,  promoting  as  far  as  he 


>  Monitcur,  .Tunc  13,  18G6. 

'  La  I'olitiquo  ImjK/riale,  Expo^^e  paries  Discours  et  Proclamations  dc  I'Em- 
pcrcur  Napol(5on  III.,  dcpuis  ic  10  Dccombrc,  1S48,  jusqu'cn  Juillct,  1865, 
p.  423. 


186  HISTORY    OF  PRUSSIA. 

dared  the  independence  of  the  slave  States,  and  at  the 
same  time,  on  the  ruins  of  the  Mexican  repubhc,  setting 
up  a  mock  empire.  In  similar  spirit  has  he  conspired 
against  German  unity ^  whose  just  streyigth  promised  to  he 
a  ivall  against  his  unprincipled  ambition.''''  ^ 

France  had  been  terribly  humiliated  by  the  march  of 
the  allies  to  Paris,  and  by  those  treaties  of  1815,  which, 
wresting  from  her  the  natural  boundary  of  the  Rhine, 
had  left  the  kingdom  defenceless  from  invasion  from 
the  north.  Even  the  Bourbons,  who  had  taken  part  in 
those  treaties,  felt  keenly  the  national  humiliation  ;  but 
they  submitted  to  it  from  fear  that  the  people  might 
again  rise  in  defence  of  popular  rights,  and  that  again 
the  presence  of  the  allied  armies  might  be  needed  to 
maintain  the  Bourbon  throne. 

The  years  rolled  on,  —  the  sad  years  of  disquiet  and 
suffering  which  have  imbittered  all  the  centuries.  At 
last,  even  the  Bourbons  could  endure  the  shame  no 
longer  of  having  the  northern  provinces  of  France  in 
the  hands  of  a  foreign  nation,  and  those  very  fortresses 
which  had  been  constructed  to  guard  France  from  in- 
vasion garrisoned  by  foreign  troops. 

But  these  Rhine  provinces  had  been  assigned  to  Prus- 
sia by  treaties  which  all  the  governments  assembled  at 
Vienna  were  pledged  to  maintain.  Even  the  Bourbons 
themselves  had  agreed  to  hold  them  sacred.  They  could 
not  be  regained  without  war  and  also  perfidy  on  the  j  art 
of  the  Bourbon  government. 

The  discontent,  however,  of  the  people  was  so  great, 
in  view  of  this  degradation,  that  the  Bourbons  thought 
it  would  be  a  popular  measure,  and  would  strengthen 

*  Senator  Sumner  on  the  war,  New- York  Herald,  Oct.  29. 


FRANCE  DEMANDS   HER,  AXCIKiNT   BOUNDARY.      187 

them  oil  the  throne,  should  they  make  an  attempt  to 
regain  these  provinces,  even  at  the  expense  of  their 
plighted  word  and  of  a  war. 

Viscount  Chateaubriand  was  one  of  the  ministers  of 
Charles  X.  He  testifies  in  his  memoirs  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  Charles  X.  had  entered  into  a  secret  treaty 
uith  Russia  to  aid  her  in  her  designs  upon  Constantino- 
ple ;  and,  in  return,  Russia  was  to  aid  France  in  regain- 
ing her  lost  Rhenish  provinces. 

Just  before  there  was  time  to  execute  this  treaty, 
there  was,  in  the  year  1820,  a  new  revolution,  in  which 
the  French  people  a  third  time  drove  the  Bourbons  from 
the  throne.  By  the  adroit  management  of  a  few  opu- 
lent and  influential  men  in  Paris,  the  crown  was  placed 
upon  the  brow  of  Louis  Philippe,  without  submitting 
the  question  to  the  vote  of  the  people. 

Louis  Pliihppe,  who  could  claim  the  throne  neither 
by  right  of  the  popular  vote  nor  by  the  doctrine  of 
legitimacy,  fearing  that  the  allies  might  again  combine 
in  defence  of  the  "  divine  right "  of  sovereigns,  and  re- 
instate the  Bourbons,  endeavored  to  secure  the  support 
of  the  surrounding  dynasties  by  pledging  himself  to  the 
maintenance  of  their  policy.  He  therefore  wrote  to  each 
of  the  leading  sovereigns,  promising  that,  in  case  his 
government  was  recognized  by  them,  he  would  respect 
the  treaties  of  1815 ;  which  was  equivalent  to  saying 
tiiat  he  would  make  no  effort  to  regahi  the  Rhine  prov- 
inces. 

Alison  writes  in  reference  to  the  secret  negotiations 
to  which  we  liave  alluded  between  the  Bourhoyi  cahhwis 
and  Russia,  "  The  result  was  a  secret  agreement  that 
Russia  should  support  France  in  the  eventual  extension 
of   its  frontier  to  the   Rhine,  and  that  France  should 


188  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

countenance  Russia  in  the  advancing  its  standards  to 
Constantinople.  Prussia  was  to  be  indemnified  for  the 
loss  of  its  Rhenish  provinces  by  the  half  of  Hanover ; 
Holland,  for  the  sacrifice  of  Belgium,  by  the  other  half. 
But  this  agreement,  how  carefully  soever  veiled  in  secre- 
cy, came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  British  Government ; 
and  it  was  the  information  which  they  had  gained  in 
regard  to  it  which  led  to  the  immediate  recognition  of 
the  government  of  Louis  Philippe."  ^ 

"  The  treaties  of  1815,"  writes  Louis  Blanc,  "  had  left 
burning  traces  in  the  hearts  of  Frenchmen.  These,  it 
was  hoped,  would  be  effaced  by  the  recovery  of  the 
Rhine  as  the  frontier  of  France." 

Again  he  writes,  speaking  of  the  government  of  Louis 
Philippe,  "  The  first  thought  of  the  new  government 
had  been  to  obtain  recognition.  It  therefore  resolved  to 
base  its  policy  upon  the  maintenance  of  the  treaties  of 
1815.  Louis  Philippe  promised  to  shield  from  every 
blow  the  European  system  established  in  1815.  His 
accession  was  therefore  hailed  with  joy  by  the  sovereigns 
who  had  in  1815  divided  the  spoils  of  France  between 
them."  2 

This  subserviency  of  Louis  Philippe  to  the  policy  of 
the  allies,  rendered  him,  in  France,  by  far  the  most  un- 
popular monarch  who  had  ever  sat  upon  that  throne. 
Still,  sustained  by  the  sympathies  of  all  the  surrounding 
monarchies,  who  regarded  him  as  their  agent  in  arresting 
the  progress  of  liberal  opinions,  he  retained  the  throne 
for  about  eighteen  years. 

The  downfall  of  Louis  Philippe  in  1848  was  followed 

1  Alison's  History  of  Europe,  vol.  vi.  p.  165;  also  France  under  Louis 
Philippe,  vol.  i.  p.  88. 

'^  Louis  Blanc,  vol.  i.  p.  290. 


FRANCE  DEMANDS   ITER  ANCIENT  BOUNDARY.      180 

by  the  brief  republic,  and  that  by  the  re-establishment 
of  the  empire  in  1851.  Upon  the  establishment  of  the 
republic,  it  was  feared  by  monarchical  Europe  that 
French  armies  would  immediately  be  pushed  forward  to 
seize  the  ancient  boundary  of  the  Rhine.  To  allay  these 
fears,  and  thus  to  prevent  an  armed  alliance  against  the 
republic,  the  leaders  of  that  party,  Ledru  Rollin  and 
Louis  Blanc,  issued  a  circular  to  the  governments  of 
Europe,  in  which  they  said,  — 

"  The  treaties  of  1815  do  not  exist  in  right  in  the 
63-68  of  the  French  Republic.  But  war  does  not  neces- 
sarily follow  from  that  declaration.  The  territorial 
limits  fixed  by  those  treaties  are  the  bases  which  the 
republic  is  willing  to  take  as  the  point  of  departure  iu 
its  external  relations  with  other  nations." 

They  hoped  by  this  declaration,  that,  for  the  present^ 
they  would  make  no  attempt  to  push  their  boundaries  to 
the  Rhine  to  allay  the  fears  of  those  who  were  pledged 
to  maintain  the  treaties  of  Vienna. 

When  Louis  Napoleon  was  chosen  president,  the  allies 
were  much  alarmed.  It  was  quite  manifest  that  this 
election  would  prove  but  a  stepping-stone  to  the  re-es- 
tablishment of  the  empire ;  and  it  was  very  certain  that 
the  empire,  once  consolidated  in  any  thing  like  its  fornun" 
splendor,  would  insist,  eventually,  upon  its  ancient  and 
only  natural  boundary  on  the  Rhine.  "  The  London 
Morning  Post "  of  1852  said,  — 

"  The  allies  are  wUling  to  tolerate  the  temporary  presi- 
dency of  the  nephew  of  Napoleon ;  but  they  will  not 
tolerate  the  transformation  of  the  presidency  into  an 
empire." 

The  French  people  do  not  appear  to  have  been  intimi- 
dated l)y  tliis  threat.     They  were  not  disposed  to  iiKpiire 


190  HISTOEY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

of  the  British  cabinet  what  government  France  might 
adopt.  In  six  months  after  the  utterance  of  this  threat, 
the  French  people,  by  majorities  which  astounded  Eu- 
rope, re-estabhshed  the  empire,  and  chose  the  heir  of 
Napoleon  as  emperor. 

The  two  extreme  parties,  the  legitimists  and  the 
republicans,  were  united  in  the  Corps  L^gislatif  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  imperial  government.  As  we  have  men- 
tioned, the  government  was  severely  censured  by  this 
opposition  for  aiding  in  the  unification  of  Italy,  and  for 
permitting  Prussia  to  create  a  great  German  nation  of 
forty  millions  of  population.  In  an  address  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  chambers  on  the  18th  of  November,  1866, 
the  emperor  said,  in  allusion  to  these  censures,  — 

"  Notwithstanding  the  declaration  of  my  government, 
which  has  never  varied  in  its  pacific  attitude,  the  belief 
has  been  spread  that  any  modification  in  the  internal  sys- 
tem of  Germany  must  become  a  cause  of  conflict.  It  is 
necessary  to  accept  frankly  the  changes  which  have  taken 
place  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine ;  to  proclaim,  that, 
so  long  as  our  interests  and  our  dignity  shall  not  be 
threatened,  we  will  not  interfere  in  the  transformations 
effected  by  the  wish  of  the  populations."  ^ 

On  the  14th  of  February,  1867,  the  emperor,  after 
the  astounding  conquests  of  Prussia,  still  more  explicitly 
expressed  his  views  upon  the  subject  in  the  following 
words :  — 

"  Since  your  last  session,  serious  events  have  arisen  in 
Europe.  Although  they  may  have  astonished  the  world 
by  their  rapidity  and  by  the  importance  of  their  results, 
it  appears,  that,  according  to  the  anticipation  of  the  first 

*  La  Politique  Imp^riale. 


FKANCE   DEMANDS    HER  ANCIENT  BOUNDARY.      191 

emperor,  there  was  a  fatality  in  their  fulfihiient.  Napo- 
leon said  at  St.  Helena,  — 

"  '  One  of  ni}^  great  ideas  has  been  the  agglomeration 
and  concentration  of  the  same  nations,  geographically 
considered,  who  have  been  scattered  piecemeal  by  revo- 
lutions and  policy.  This  agglomeration  will  take  place 
sooner  or  later  by  force  of  circumstances.  The  impulse 
is  given ;  and  I  do  not  think,  that,  after  my  fall  and  the 
cUsappearance  of  my  system,  there  will  be  any  other 
great  equilibrium  possible  than  the  agglomeration  and 
confederation  of  great  nations.' 

"  The  transformations,"  continues  Napoleon  III., 
"  which  have  taken  place  in  Italy  and  Germany,  pave  the 
way  for  the  realization  of  this  vast  programme  of  the 
union  of  the  European  States  in  one  solo  confederation. 
The  spectacle  of  the  efforts  made  by  the  neighboring 
nations  to  assemble  their  members,  scattered  abroad  for 
so  many  centuries,  cannot  cause  disquiet  in  such  a 
country  as  ours,  all  the  parts  of  which  are  irrevocably 
bound  up  with  each  other,  and  form  a  homogeneous  and 
indestructible  body. 

"  We  have  been  impartial  witnesses  of  the  struggle 
which  has  been  waged  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine. 
In  presence  of  these  conflicts,  the  country  strongly  mani- 
fested its  wish  to  keep  aloof  from  it.  Not  only  did  I 
defer  to  this  wish,  but  I  used  every  effort  to  hasten  the 
conclusion  of  peace."  ^ 

•  Speech  at  the  opening  of  the  French  Chambers,  Feb.  14,  1867. 


CHAPTER   XV. 


THE    rOLICY    OF    COUNT   BISMARCK. 

'RANGE  had  felt  very  uneasy  in  having  her 
northern  provinces  and  fortresses  in  the  hands 
of  Prussia,  even  when  that  kingdom  was  a 
feeble  power,  numbering  but  eighteen  millions. 
But  France  could  not  move  to  recover  those 
provinces  without  bringing  against  her  all  of 
monarchical  Europe,  pledged  to  maintain  the 
treaties  of  1815. 

But  now  Prussia,  in  entire  disregard  of  those  treaties, 
had  engaged  in  as  stupendous  a  system  of  conquests  as 
Europe  had  ever  witnessed.  She  had  suddenly  risen  to 
the  position  of  a  first-class  power.  The  Prussian  king- 
dom had  become  an  organized  camp.  Every  man  was  a 
soldier.  The  armies  of  Austria  had  been  scattered  by 
her  military  bands  like  sheep  by  wolves.  In  population, 
in  resources,  in  the  number  and  appointment  of  her 
armies,  she  had  become  at  least  fully  the  equal  of  France. 
And  yet  she  held  both  banks  of  the  Rhine.  She  held 
the  Valley  of  the  Moselle.  There  was  neither  mountain- 
range  nor  river  to  present  any  barrier  to  the  impetuous 
rush  of  her  legions  into  the  heart  of  France. 

On  the  other  hand,  should  an  invading  Prussian  army 
be  repelled,  and  find  it  necessary  to  retreat,  it  need  only 

192 


THE   POLICY   OF   COUNT   BISMARCK.  193 

retire  behind  the  broad  and  rapid  Rhine,  with  all  the 
bridges  at  its  command,  and  the  most  formidable  for- 
tresses fringing  both  its  banks  ;  and  there  it  could  rest  in 
security. 

It  is  said  that  ambition  grows  with  what  it  feeds  upon. 
Prussia,  instead  of  being  satiated  with  the  enormous 
acquisitions  which  she  had  made,  was  supposed  to  be 
looking  around  for  new  conquests.  The  French  "  Jour- 
nal Officiel  "  says, — 

"  No  one  can  ignore  the  ambitious  designs  of  Prussia 
against  Holland.  Bismarck  wishes  that  little  nation  to 
submit,  as  the  Danish  duchies  were  forced  to  submit. 
He  wished  to  render  Holland  a  naval  State  of  the  North 
German  Confederation.  But  for  the  stand  taken  by 
France,  Prussian  policy  woidd  have  proved  fatal  to  the 
inde*pendence  of  the  Netherlands." 

Under  these  changed  circumstances,  every  man,  of  all 
parties,  in  France,  became  alarmed.  It  was  deemed  fear- 
ful to  leave  the  key  of  entrance  into  France  in  the  hands 
of  so  majestic  and  menacing  a  power.  Bourbonists, 
Orleanists,  Imperialists,  and  Republicans,  all  alike  were 
agitated.  And  yet  the  hands  of  France  seemed  tied. 
Prussia  made  no  attack  upon  France  :  she  was  simply 
gaining  gigantic  strength,  which  would  soon  enable  her 
to  dictate  laws  to  the  French  Empire,  and  to  be  the  con- 
trolling power  in  Europe. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  the  sagacious  Bis- 
marck endeavored  to  place  Leopold  of  Hohenzollern 
upon  the  throne  of  Spain.  Leopold  was  a  prince  of  one 
of  the  most  important  principalities  of  Prussia,  a  near 
relative  of  the  royal  family,  and  a  colonel  in  the  Prussian 
army.  The  successful  accomplishment  of  this  feat  woidd 
indeed  have  been  the  revival  of  the  empire  of  Charle- 

13 


194  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

magne  ;  Spain  would  have  been  but  a  province  of  the 
great  German  Empire,  submissive  to  the  crown  of  Prus- 
sia ;  France  would  have  been  quite  at  the  mercy  of  this 
gigantic  power.     And  yet  it  was  very  adroitly  done. 

"You  Frenchmen,"  said  Bismarck  through  all  his 
organs,  "  profess  that  the  people  have  a  right  to  choose 
their  own  sovereigns.  Has  not  Spain,  then,  a  right  to 
choose  her  monarch  ?  And,  if  Spain  choose  Leopold  of 
HohenzoUern,  is  it  not  intolerable  insolence  in  France  to 
pretend  to  object  to  this  free  choice  of  a  free  people  ? 
and  can  Prussia  submit  to  the  insult  of  being  commanded 
by  France  to  forbid  Leopold  to  accept  the  crown  offered 
him  by  the  suffrages  of  an  independent  nation? " 

In  reply,  the  French  journal,  "  Le  Gaulois,"  very 
forcibly  puts  the  other  side  of  the  question :  — 

"  Let  us  look  back  a  httle.  Prussia  seized  Schleswig 
and  Holstein :  we  said  nothing.  Prussia  accomphshed 
Sadowa :  we  were  silent.  Prussia  made  fresh  annexa- 
tions :  we  held  our  peace.  Prussia  occasioned  the 
serious  difficulty  about  Luxemburg :  we  were  concilia- 
tory. Prussia  enthroned  a  HohenzoUern  in  Roumania : 
we  said  nothing.  Prussia  violated  her  engagements  at 
the  treaty  of  Prague  :  we  do  not  resent  it. 

"  Bismarck  has  now  prepared  for  us  a  candidate  for 
the  throne  of  Spain  to  cut  our  hamstrings,  and  to  crush 
us  between  him  and  the  Spaniards  as  he  crushed  Aus- 
tria between  Germany  and  Italy.  If  we  had  submitted 
to  this  last  affront,  there  is  not  a  woman  in  the  world 
who  would  have  accepted  the  arm  of  a  Frenchman." 

A  writer  in  "  The  New-York  Herald,"  commenting 
upon  this  subject,  writes,  "  No  statement  touching  the 
war  is  more  flagrantly  impudent  and  unjust  than  that 
accredited  to  '  The  London  Times,'  —  that  France,  with- 


THE  POLICY   OF  COUNT  BISMARCK.  195 

out  a  shadow  of  excuse  or  justification,  plunges  Europe 
into  war. 

"  On  the  contrary,  regarding  the  situation  from  an  im- 
partial standpoint,  it  does  not  appear  that  France  is 
without  justification.  So  far  from  it,  it  appears  that 
France  could  not,  without  humiliation,  stand  in  any 
other  position  than  that  which  she  now  assumes. 

"  It  was  not  merely  the  candidacy  of  Hohenzollern 
France  objected  to  :  it  was  the  appearance  of  Prussia 
bej^ond  the  Pyrenees  ;  it  was  the  assumption  of  Prussia 
to  take  possession  of  Spain  as  if  it  were  a  German 
duchy.  France  was  fully  justified  in  making  an  indig- 
nant protest  against  this." 

A  very  interesting  article  upon  the  war  recently  ap- 
peared in  "  The  New- York  Observer,"  from  the  pen  of 
Mr.  J.  T.  Headley,  who  probably  is  as  famihar  with 
the  politics  of  Europe  as  anj^  other  American.  In  this 
article,  Mr.  Headley  says,  — 

"  That  Bismarck  anticipated,  na}^  desired  war,  there 
can  be  little  doubt.  His  object  was  twofold :  first,  to 
consolidate  Germany ;  second,  to  secure  a  safe  frontier 
against  France.  Most  people  may  have  forgotten  that 
this  question  of  placing  a  German  prince  on  the  throne 
of  Spain  was  raised  a  year  ago,  and  demanded  an  ex- 
planation. Bismarck  ridiculed  the  whole  thing  as  a 
fable. 

"  From  that  moment,  at  least,  he  knew  that  an  at- 
tempt to  bring  about  such  an  event  would  result  in  war. 
Then  why  did  he  allow  such  a  firebrand  to  be  thrown 
into  France  ?  He  knew,  from  the  conduct  of  the 
French  minister  a  year  before,  that  war  would  follow  ; 
and,  if  he  did  not  desire  war,  he  could  easily  have  pre- 
vented Prim's  proposition  from  being  offered  or  made 


196  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

public.  Moreover,  Prim  had  no  authority  or  power  to 
make  it ;  showing,  conclusively,  that  the  whole  thing  was 
concocted  between  him  and  Bismarck  to  bring  about 
just  what  happened. 

"  To  make  this  still  more  apparent,  note,  that  from  the 
time,  a  year  before,  when  the  manner  in  which  the  ru- 
mored proposition  was  received  foretold  the  result,  he 
commenced  putting  Germany  on  a  war-footing.  Cars 
for  the  express  purpose  of  transporting  troops  were 
built,  and  lay  in  trains  along  the  various  railroads  of  the 
State.  More  than  this,  the  result  proved,  that,  before 
the  shell  that  had  been  prepared  exploded,  he  had 
called  out  and  concentrated  his  troops  so  near  the  fron- 
tier, that  while  Bonaparte,  by  his  sudden  declaration  of 
war,  and  advance  to  the  Rhine,  expected  to  be  eight 
or  ten  days  ahead  of  his  adversary,  he  was  more  than 
that  time  behind  him. 

"  Such  an  accumulation  of  circumstantial  evidence 
furnishes  incontestable  proof  of  a  deep,  well-laid  plot, 
on  the  part  of  Bismarck,  to  provoke  a  war."  ^ 

A  nation  of  forty  millions  of  people,  as  intelligent,  as 
enhghtened  and  liberty-loving,  as  any  people  on  the 
globe,  does  not  unanimously  rush  into  war  without 
truly  believing  that  there  is  some  provocation.^ 

In  France,  this  is  not  a  war  of  the  government,  but 
of  the  people  ;  not  a  war  to  aggrandize  a  dynasty,  but 
to  rectify  a  frontier.     It  can,  with  more  propriety,  be 

*  New- York  Observer,  Oct.  27, 1870. 

2  "  Bismarck,  who  had  played  with  Austria  before  1866  till  he  kaew  that 
he  had  a  force  iu  hand  strong  enough  to  crush  her,  gained  time  by  fooling  the 
French  diplomatists  till  every  thing  was  in  so  perfect  a  state  of  preparation, 
that,  within  a  fortnight  after  war  had  been  declared,  half  a  million  of  trained 
eoldiers  were  ready  to  enter  France:'  —  Marichtster  {Euffland)  Guardian,  Axxg* 
25,  1870 


THE   POLICY   OF   COUNT  BISMARCK.  197 

said  that  the  people  impelled  the  government  to  the 
war,  than  that  the  government  dragged  the  people  into 
it.  It  is  the  general  admission,  that  the  people,  instinc- 
tively alarmed  by  the  enormous  growth  of  Prussia,  and 
less  informed  of  the  relative  strength  of  the  two  powers 
than  the  government,  demanded  war  with  a  degree  of 
unanimity  which  no  government  could  have  withstood, 
even  if  disposed  to  do  so. 

It  has  been  the  general  impression  in  the  United 
States,  that  the  imperial  government  had  sedulously 
fostered  the  war-spirit  in  France ;  that  the  whole  em- 
pire was  converted  into  a  military  camp,  and  that  thus 
all  Europe  was  compelled  to  keep  up  enormous  arma- 
ments. The  startling  events  Avhich  have  occurred 
show  how  erroneous  was  this  opinion.  Just  before  the 
breaking-out  of  the  war,  the  French  minister,  the  Duke 
de  Grammont,  said,  in  a  circular  published  in  the  "  Jour- 
nal Officiel,"  — 

"  If  Europe  remains  armed,  if  a  million  of  men  are 
on  the  eve  of  the  shock  of  battle,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  the  responsibility  is  Prussia's,  as  she  repulsed  all 
idea  of  disarmament  lohen  we  caused  the  jrroposal  to  he 
made  and  began  hy  giving  the  example.  The  conscience 
of  Europe  and  history  will  say  that  Prussia  sought  this 
war  by  inflicting  upon  France,  pre-occupied  with  the 
development  of  her  political  institutions,  an  outrage  no 
nation  could  accept  without  incurring  contempt." 

The  deputies  of  the  Corps  Ldgislatif,  chosen  by  uni- 
versal suffrage,  and  consequently  representing  all  par- 
ties, sustained  tlie  war  by  a  vote  of  24(3  to  10.  In  tlie 
Senate,  composed  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  tlic  most 
illustrious  men  in  France,  it  is  not  rc[)orted  that  there 
was  a  single  dissentient  voice.     Immediately  after  the 


198  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

decisive  vote  in  the  Corps  Legislatif,  the  Senate,  in  a 
body,  on  the  17th  of  July,  repaired  to  St.  Cloud  to 
pledge  to  the  emperor  their  cordial  support  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  war.  In  a  very  emphatic  speech  which  M. 
Rouher  made  upon  the  occasion,  he  said,  "  Your  Majes- 
ty draws  the  sword,  and  the  whole  country  goes  with 
you." 

"  The  right  is  on  our  side,"  exclaims  the  "  Courrier  des 
Etats-Unis  :  "  "  the  world  cannot  refuse  to  see  it.  At 
this  hour,  the  hearts  of  all  Frenchmen  beat  in  unison. 
'•To  the  Rhine  '  is  the  cry  of  the  whole  nation." 

One  hundred  million  dollars  were  in  a  few  hours  sub- 
scribed to  the  war-fund.  A  hundred  thousand  volun- 
teers came  forward,  almost  in  a  day,  to  join  the  army. 

In  Germany,  the  people  followed,  they  did  not  lead, 
the  government ;  but  they  followed  with  the  enthusi- 
asm, and  all  the  deep  conviction,  that  they  were  in  the 
right,  which  inspired  the  French.  How  deplorable  is 
this  spectacle !  what  a  comment  upon  the  frailty  of 
human  nature !  Here  are  forty  millions  of  people  on 
either  side  of  the  Rhine.  They  are  rushing  against 
each  other  with  the  utmost  conceivable  fury,  crimsoning 
the  battle-fields  with  blood,  and  filling  the  two  kingdoms 
with  widowhood,  orphanage,  and  misery ;  and  each  par- 
ty, through  thousands  of  churches,  appeals  to  God  in 
attestation  of  the  righteousness  of  its  cause.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  there  are,  on  both  sides,  thousands 
of  sincere  Christians,  who  conscientiously  invoke  the 
assistance  of  Heaven. 

France  assumes  that  she  is  fighting  to  regain  her  origi- 
nal and  legitimate  boundaries,  —  boundaries  which  she 
deems  essential  to  her  independent  existence  under  the 
changed  .state  of  affairs  in  Europe.      Prussia  assumes 


THE   POLICY    OF   COUNT   BISMARCK.  190 

that  she  is  fighting  to  resist  a  wanton  and  unprovoked 
attack  from  France,  who  is  endeavoring  to  wrest  from 
her  important  portions  of  her  territory,  —  territory 
which  she  has  held,  without  dispute,  for  half  a  century. 
Throughout  Cluistendom,  intelligent,  conscientious 
religious  communities  are  divided.  Millions  are  in 
warm  sympathy  with  Prussia :  other  milhons  are  no 
less  ardent  in  their  prayers  for  the  success  of  the  arms 
of  France.  Surely  such  facts  should  teach  a  lesson  of 
charity. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 


THE   DECLARATION    OF   WAR. 


ND  now  events  of  the  most  momentous  na- 
ture succeeded  each  other  with  marvellous 
rapidity.  The  ex-queen,  Isabella  of  Spain, 
an  exile  in  Paris,  on  Sunday,  the  26th  of 
June,  1870,  formally  abdicated  the  throne 
in  favor  of  her  eldest  son,  Prince  Alphonso. 
On  Tuesday,  the  6th  of  July,  the  intelli- 
gence was  made  public  in  the  streets  of  Paris  that  the 
Prussian  court  was  secretly  intriguing  to  place  Prince 
Leopold  of  Hohenzollern  on  the  vacant  throne  of  Spain. 
The  abdication  of  Isabella  in  favor  of  Alphonso  had 
but  little  force,  since  neither  the  ex-queen  nor  her  son 
dared  to  cross  the  Pyrenees  to  enter  the  Idngdom  from 
which  insurrection  had  expelled  them. 

It  will  be  remembered,  that,  once  before,  the  rumor 
had  been  circulated,  that  Prussia  was  intriguing  to  place 
one  of  her  princes  on  the  Spanish  throne,  and  that  Bis- 
marck had  declared  that  there  was  no  foundation  for  the 
rumor.  The  tidings  which  now  reached  the  French 
court,  that  a  Prussian  prince  was  again  a  candidate  for 
the  crown  once  worn  by  Charles  V.,  caused  agitation 
throughout  the  whole  of  Paris.  It  gave  immediate  rise 
to  a  very  exciting  debate  in  the  Legislative  Corps.     All 

200 


THE   DECLARATION  OF  WAR.  201 

parties  seemed  to  be  united  in  the  conviction,  tluit  this 
renewed  measure  of  Count  Bismarck  was  a  direct  menace 
to  the  independence  of  France.  Ahiiost  the  universal 
press  gave  utterance  to  tlie  popular  feeling,  that  the  pro- 
posed encroachment  must  be  resisted,  even  at  the  peril 
of  war. 

The  question  was  one  in  which  imperialists,  monarch- 
ists, and  republicans  were  alike  interested.  If  Prussia, 
with  forty  millions  of  inhabitants,  in  compact  military 
organization,  and  already  in  possession  of  both  banks  of 
the  Rhine,  were  virtually  to  annex  Spain  to  her  domain, 
France  would  be  quite  at  her  disposal.  The  republicans 
had  more  to  fear  from  this  movement  than  either  the 
imperialists  or  the  monarchists ;  for  there  could  be  no 
question  respecting  the  deadly  hostility  of  Prussia  to  a 
republic.  France  had  already  advanced,  in  the  line  of 
popular  rights,  from  the  old  feudal  monarchy  to  the 
republican  empire,  founded,  not  upon  "  legitimacy,"  but 
upon  universal  suffrage.  Even  this  reform  excited  the 
hatred  and  the  dread  of  Prussia.  Should  France  still 
take  another  step,  and  advance  to  a  republic,  no  one 
could  question  that  Prussia  would  summon  all  her  ener- 
gies to  crush  out  those  institutions  which  would  be 
threatening  Europe  with  revolution. 

Influenced  by  such  considerations,  after  mature  delib- 
eration, the  French  minister  (the  Duke  of  Grammont) 
gave  ofi&cial  notice  to  the  Prussian  court,  on  Monday, 
the  11th  of  July,  that  France  could  not  permit  a  German 
prince  to  ascend  tlie  throne  of  Charles  V.  In  the  mean 
time,  agitation  was  rapidly  increasing  all  over  France. 
The  discussion  clearly  revealed  the  peril  in  which  Franco 
was  placed  in  having  both  banlcs  of  the  Rhino  in  the 
possession  of  a  power  which  had  suddenly  assumed  such 


202  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA.     • 

gigantic  proportions.  The  conviction  became  apparently 
universal,  that  France  must  immediately,  and  at  all  haz- 
ards, reclaim  her  ancient  boundary  of  the  Rhine.  She 
did  not  demand  both  banks,  but  only  the  southern  bank, 
as  essential  to  the  protection  of  France ;  leaving  the 
northern  bank  with  Prussia  for  the  protection  of  Ger- 
many. Tlie  war-cry  resounded  through  France  ;  but 
that  cry  was  not,  "  On  to  Berlin ! "  but  "  On  to  the 
Rhine  !  "  AU  that  France  demanded  was  that  ancient 
boundary  which  she  deemed  essential  to  her  defence 
from  Germanic  invasion. 

The  next  day,  July  12,  it  was  announced  that  Leopold 
was  withdrawn  from  the  candidature  ;  but  the  agitation 
had  become  so  great  and  extended,  that  something  more 
than  this  was  needed  to  allay  it. 

"  To-morrow,"  it  was  said,  "  sonje  new  intrigue  may 
place  some  other  German  prince  upon  that  throne.  It 
is  not  to  Leopold  personally  that  we  object.  We  demand 
of  Prussia  the  pledge  that  she  will  not  place  any  of  her 
princes  on  the  Spanish  throne.  One  Prussian  prince  is 
just  as  dangerous  as  another;  and,  moreover,  these 
encroachments  of  Prussia  show  the  peril  of  France. 
Since  Prussia  has  trampled  the  treaties  of  1815  beneath 
her  feet  in  her  enormous  encroachments,  a  regard  to  our 
own  safety  imperatively  demands  that  we  should  have 
surrendered  back  to  us  the  provinces  which  Prussia  holds 
on  the  south  bank  of  the  Rhine." 

On  the  14th  of  July,  the  King  of  Prustjia  refused  to 
receive  Count  Benedetti,  the  French  ambassador,  under 
circumstances  which  increased  the  exasperation  then 
rapidly  rising  between  the  two  nations.  King  William 
accused  the  count  of  presenting  his  demands  at  an  un- 
seemly time  and  in  an  insolent  manner.      The  French 


THE   DECLARATION   OP   WAR,  203 

court  accused  the  king  of  insulting  France  in  the  person 
of  her  ambassador,  and  of  rudely  refusing  to  receive 
propositions  intended  to  avert  war.  Each  nation  told 
its  own  story.  Forty  millions  of  Germans  believed  that 
their  king  had  been  impudently  approached  by  the 
French  ambassador :  forty  millions  of  Frenchmen  be- 
lieved that  imperial  France  had  been  designedly  insulted 
by  the  Prussian  monarch. 

On  the  15th  of  July,  the  French  Government,  sus- 
tained by  the  Legislative  Corps,  by  the  Senate,  and  appar- 
ently by  the  enthusiastic  acclaim  of  the  French  people, 
declared  war  against  Prussia.  Though  there  were  indi- 
vidual remonstrants,  it  seems  to  be  the  undisputed  testi- 
mony of  the  French  press,  and  of  all  the  American  and 
English  correspondents  in  France  at  that  time,  that  the 
general  voice  of  the  nation  was  for  war.  It  is  said  that 
the  emperor,  better  acquainted  than  others  with  the  mili- 
tary preparation  of  the  two  nations,  was  almost  the  only 
man  in  Paris  opposed  to  the  immediate  declaration  of 
hostihties ;  but  the  popular  current  was  so  strong,  that 
even  he  could  not  resist  it.  A  very  intelligent  American 
gentleman  who  Avas  in  Paris  at  the  time,  and  who  had 
resided  in  Paris  so  much  of  his  time  as  to  be  quite  at 
home  in  Parisian  society,  wrote  me,  — 

"  In  respect  to  this  war,  it  seems  hardly  fair  to  hold 
Napoleon  responsible  for  it ;  since  he  said,  so  it  is  stated, 
that  he  was  opposed  to  it  at  the  outset,  but  that  the 
French  people  '  slipped  aivay  from  him,^  and  that  he  was 
obliged  to  go  with  them,  or  lose  hold  of  them  entirely. 
This  seems,  I  must  acknowledge,  rather  against  my 
theory  of  government  l)y  the  will  of  the  people ;  but 
so,  they  say,  it  was.  At  any  rate,  all  of  whom  we  in- 
quir(!d  in  Paris  told  us  that  the  war  was  generally  pop- 
ular." 


204  HISTOEY   OF   PRUSSIA. 

In  a  brief  speech  which  the  emperor  made  to  the 
Senate  on  the  occasion,  he  said,  "  War  is  legitimate 
when  it  is  made  with  the  assent  of  the  country  and  the 
approbation  of  its  representatives.  You  are  right  in 
recalling  the  words  of  Montesquieu,  '  The  true  author  of 
a  war  is  not  he  who  declares^  but  he  who  renders^  it  neees- 
mry.^ " 

In  an  address  to  the  French  people,  issued  on  the  23d 
of  July,  the  emperor  said,  "  There  are  in  the  life  of 
peoples  solemn  moments,  when  the  national  honor,  vio- 
lently excited,  presses  itself  irresistibly,  rises  above  all 
other  interests,  and  applies  itself  to  the  single  purpose 
of  directing  the  destinies  of  the  nation.  One  of  these 
decisive  hours  has  now  arrived  for  France. 

"  Prussia,  to  whom  we  have  given  evidence,  during 
and  since  the  war  of  1866,  of  the  most  conciliatory  dis- 
position, has  held  our  good  will  of  no  account,  and  has 
returned  our  forbearance  by  encroachments.  She  has 
aroused  distrust  in  all  quarters,  in  all  quarters  necessi- 
tating exaggerated  armaments  ;  and  has  made  of  Europe 
a  camp,  where  reign  disquiet,  and  fear  of  the  morrow. 

"  A  final  moment  has  disclosed  the  instability  of  the 
international  understanding,  and  shown  the  gravity  of 
the  situation.  In  the  presence  of  her  new  pretensions, 
Prussia  was  made  to  understand  our  claims.  They  were 
evaded,  and  followed  with  contemptuous  treatment. 
Our  country  manifested  profound  displeasure  at  this 
action ;  and  quickly  a  war-cr}^  resounded  from  one  end 
of  France  to  the  other. 

"  There  remains  for  us  nothing  but  to  confide  our  des- 
tinies  to  the  chance  of  arms.  We  do  not  make  war 
upon  Germany,  whose  independence  we  respect.  We 
pledge  ourselves  that  the  people  composing  the  great 


THE  DECLARATION   OF  WAR.  205 

Germanic  nationality  sliall  dispose  freely  of  tlicir  desl  i- 
nies.  As  for  us,  we  demand  the  establishment  of  a  state 
of  things  guaranteeing  our  security,  and  assuring  the 
future.  We  wish  to  conquer  a  durable  peace  based  on 
the  true  interests  of  the  people,  and  to  assist  in  abolish- 
ing that  precarious  condition  of  things  when  all  nations 
are  forced  to  employ  their  resources  in  arming  against 
each  other." 

King  William  of  Prussia,  in  accepting  the  gage  of 
battle  thus  thrown  down  by  France,  addressed  in  the 
following  terms  the  North  German  Parliament  on  the 
20th  of  July  :  — 

"  The  King  of  Prussia  had  no  interest  in  the  selection 
of  the  Prince  of  Hohenzollern  for  the  Spanish  throne, 
except  that  it  might  bring  peace  to  a  friendly  people. 
It  had,  nevertheless,  furnished  the  Emperor  of  the 
French  with  a  pretext  for  war  unknown  to  diplomacy ; 
and,  scorning  peace,  he  has  indulged  in  language  to  Ger- 
many which  could  only  have  been  prompted  by  a  mis- 
calculation of  her  strength. 

"  Germany  is  powerful  enough  to  resent  such  language 
and  repel  such  violence.  I  say  so  in  all  reverence,  know- 
ing that  the  event  is  in  God's  hands.  I  have  fully 
weighed  the  responsibility  which  rests  on  the  man  who 
drives  into  war  and  havoc  two  great  and  tranquil  nations 
yearning  for  peace  and  the  enjoyment  of  ^he  common 
blessings  of  Christian  civilization  and  prosperity,  and  for 
contests  more  salutary  than  those  of  blood." 

In  the  declaration  of  war  issued  by  the  French  Gov- 
ernment, it  was  stated  that  the  French  were  obliged  to 
consider  the  proposal  to  elevate  a  Prussian  prince  to 
the  tlirone  of  Spain  as  menacing  the  independence  of 
France  ;  that,  consequently,  France  had  requested  Prus- 


206  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

sia  to  disavow  that  scheme ;  that  Prussia  refused  to  do 
so;  that  this  refusal  imperilled  France  and  the  Euro- 
pean equilibrium.  The  declaration  concludes  with  the 
following  words :  — 

"  The  French  Government,  therefore,  in  taking  step,3 
for  the  defence  of  its  honor  and  injured  interests,  and 
having  adopted  all  measures  which  the  circumstances 
render  necessary,  considers  itself  at  war  with  Prussia." 

The  enthusiasm  with  which  this  declaration  was 
greeted  in  France  was  equalled  by  the  enthusiasm  with 
which  all  Prussia  sprung  to  arms.  The  whole  popula- 
tion rose  in  support  of  the  king.  Somewhat  to  the  sur- 
prise, and  greatly  to  the  disappointment,  of  France,  the 
jSouth  German  States  declared  their  intention  to  support 
Prussia.  Thus  both  North  and  South  Germany  became 
a  unit  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war. 

It  was  found  that  Prussia  was  thoroughly  prepared 
for  the  conflict,  as  though  she  had  anticipated  it,  and 
had  made  secret  arrangements  accordingly.  France,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  found  singularly  unprepared,  indi- 
cating that  her  government  was  taken  by  surprise. 

"  The  Moscow  Gazette  "  declared,  that,  though  France 
commenced  the  conflict,  it  was  originated  by  Prussia. 
"A  war  with  France,"  it  said,  "was  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  the  unification  of  Germany.  Prussia  had  felt 
this  fatal  necessity  hanging  over  her  for  more  than 
three  years,  and  at  last  had  seized  the  opportunity 
when  it  was  ripe.  The  war  was  prepared  by  the  astute 
policy  of  Berhn,  not  only  at  home,  but  also  in  the  ene- 
my's camp ;  and  when  all  was  ready,  and  when  France 
was  quite  incapable  of  entering  on  a  great  war,  she  was 
goaded  into  fighting,  in  such  a  manner  that  it  seemed 
as  if  the  provocation  came  from  France  herself." 


THE   DECLARATION    OF   WAR.  207 

One  of  the  largest  armies  of  which  history  gives  an}' 
record  was  immediately  on  the  march  from  Prussia  for 
the  invasion  of  France,  —  an  army,  in  the  aggregate,  es- 
timated at  over  seven  hundred  thousand  men.  These 
troops  were  in  the  highest  state  of  disciplitie,  abundant- 
ly supplied,  and  armed  with  the  most  powerful  weapons 
of  destruction  which  modern  art  could  create.  Anoth- 
er German  army,  equal  in  numbers,  was  held  in  reserve, 
to  be  pushed  forward  in  detachments  as  occasion  might 
require. 

The  Southern  German  States  co-operating  with  Prus- 
sia enabled  Bismarck,  from  the  Prussian  fortresses  upon 
the  Rhine,  to  commence  his  march  uj)on  Paris  with 
troops  three  or  four  times  as  numerous  as  France  had 
in  tho  field  to  repel  them. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 


THE    EASTERN    QUESTION. 

EFORE  proceeding  any  farther,  let  us  turn 
aside  for  a  moment  to  contemplate  what  is 
called  "  The  Eastern  Question,"  which  has 
become  inextricably  involved  in  the  compli- 
cations of  European  diplomacy.  It  is  confi- 
dently afifirmed  by  the  partisans  of  France, 
that  Bismarck,  anxious  to  extend  along  both 
sides  of  the  Rhine  the  territory  of  the  great  German 
empire  he  was  seeking  to  construct,  goaded  France  into 
the  war  (for  which  Prussia  was  all  prepared),  and  pur- 
chased the  neutrality  of  Russia  by  a  secret  treaty,  in 
which  he  agreed  to  co-operate  with  the  czar  in  his 
designs  upon  Constantinople. 

It  has  long  been  the  great  object  of  Russian  ambition 
to  drive  the  Turks  back  into  Asia,  and,  seizing  upon 
Constantinople,  to  make  it  the  southern  capital  of  the 
Russian  Empire.  A  brief  reference  to  the  geography 
of  those  regions  will  show  the  vast  importance  of  this 
measure  to  Russia. 

The  Mediterranean  Sea  is  connected  with  the  Sea  of 
Marmora  by  a  serpentine  strait,  usually  called  the 
Hellespont,  which  is  from  half  a  mile  to  a  mile  and  a 

208 


THE  EASTERN   QUESTION.  209 

half  in  width.  At  the  mouth  of  this  strait  there  are 
four  strong  Turkish  forts,  called  the  Dardanelles :  con- 
sequently the  strait  itself  frequently  takes  the  same 
name.  Nothing  can  be  easier  than  to  crown  the  crags 
and  bluffs  which  line  these  waters  with  fortresses  that 
no  fleet  can  pass. 

Having  threaded  the  Strait  of  the  Dardanelles,  you 
pass  into  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  —  a  hundred  and  eighty 
miles  in  length,  and  sixty  in  breadth.  Crossing  this 
sea  to  its  northern  shore,  you  enter  the  Bosphorus.  This 
strait,  which  is  about  fifteen  miles  long,  and  of  an 
average  width  of  half  a  mile,  conducts  you  to  the  Black 
Sea,  in  itself  an  ocean,  —  seven  hundred  miles  long,  and 
three  hundred  broad.  The  Strait  of  the  Bosphorus  is 
considered  the  most  attractive  sheet  of  water  upon  the 
globe.  But  a  short  distance  up  the  strait,  on  the  Euro- 
pean side,  the  imperial  city  of  Constantine  is  reared. 
It  seems  to  be  the  uncontradicted  testimony  of  all 
observers,  that  earth  presents  no  other  site  so  favorable 
for  a  great  metropolis. 

The  Black  Sea  receives  into  its  immense  reservoir  not 
only  the  Danube,  but  nearly  all  the  majestic  rivers  of 
Russia,  —  the  Dnieper,  the  Dniester,  and  the  Don. 

The  great  empire  of  Russia,  with  a  territory  three 
times  as  large  as  that  of  the  United  States,  and  with 
more  than  twice  its  population,  has  no  access  to  the 
ocean  for  purposes  of  commerce  but  by  a  few  sea- 
ports on  the  Baltic,  far  away  in  the  north,  which,  for  a 
large  portion  of  the  year,  are  blocked  by  the  ice.  It 
seems  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  Russia,  to  the  de- 
velopment of  her  resources,  to  her  emergence  from  cora- 
parutive  l)arl)arisni,  that  she  should  have  free  connnereial 
intercourse  with  tlie  outside  world.      It  is  only  through 

14 


210  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

the  Bospliorus  and  the  Dardanelles  that  Russia  can  find 
avenues  to  this  commerce.  But  the  Turks  can  at  any 
time  close  this  door,  and  refuse  to  allow  any  Russian 
ship  to  enter  or  depart.  In  case  of  war,  Turkey  can 
thus  almost  annihilate  Russian  commerce. 

For  about  a  hundred  years  it  has  been  the  constant 
object  of  Russian  ambition  to  obtain  Constantinople  as 
her  southern  capital,  and  the  Dardanelles  and  the  Bos- 
pliorus as  her  commercial  avenues.  This  has  been  the 
constant  effort  of  her  diplomacy ;  and  it  has  led  to  many 
sanguinary  conflicts. 

When,  in  1827,  the  Greeks  emancipated  themselves 
from  the  Turkish  yoke,  they  were  encouraged  to  the 
effort,  and  aided  in  the  struggle,  by  Russia.  As  the  re- 
sult of  that  conflict,  the  czar  took  a  long  stride  towards 
the  possession  of  Constantinople ;  but  all  the  European 
monarchies  seem  united  in  their  determmation  that 
Russia  shall  not  obtain  Constantinople.  They  say  that 
Russia,  in  possession  of  the  imperial  city  and  of  the 
straits  which  lead  to  it,  would  be  invulnerable,  and 
could  bid  defiance  to  combined  Europe  :  the  Black  Sea 
would  become  an  impregnable  harbor ;  its  shores  a  navy- 
yard,  which  no  fleet  or  army  could  penetrate. 

The  anxiety  which  England  feels  upon  this  subject 
may  be  inferred  from  the  following  extract  from  "  The 
London  Quarterly  Review :  "  — 

"  The  possession  of  the  Dardanelles  would  give  to 
Russia  the  means  of  creating  and  organizing  an  almost 
unlimited  marine.  It  would  enable  her  to  prepare  in 
the  Black  Sea  an  armament  of  any  extent,  without  its 
being  possible  for  any  power  in  Europe  to  interrupt  her 
proceedings,  or  even  to  watch  or  discover  her  designs. 
It  is  obvious,  that,  in  the  event  of  war,  it  would  be  in  the 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION.  211 

power  of  Russia  to  throw  the  whole  weight  of  lier  dispo- 
sable forces  on  any  point  in  the  Mediterranean,  without 
any  probability  of  our  being  able  to  prevent  it.  Her 
whole  southern  empire  would  be  defended  by  a  single 
impregnable  fortress.  The  road  to  India  would  be  open 
to  her,  with  all  Asia  at  her  back.  The  finest  materials 
in  the  world  for  an  array  destined  to  serve  in  the  East 
woidd  be  at  her  disposal.  Our  power  to  overawe  her  in 
Europe  would  be  gone ;  and,  by  even  a  demonstration 
against  India,  she  could  augment  our  national  expendi- 
ture by  millions  annually,  and  render  the  government 
of  the  country  difficult  beyond  all  calculation." 

M.  Meneval,  the  private  secretary  of  Napoleon  I,, 
testifies,  that,  in  one  of  the  interviews  of  the  emperor 
with  Alexander  I.,  the  czar  ofi^ered  to  co-operate  with 
the  Emperor  of  France  in  all  his  plans  of  aggrandize- 
ment, if  Napoleon  would  consent  that  Russia  should 
take  possession  of  Constantinople.  The  emperor,  after 
a  moment's  reflection,  replied,  "  Constantinople,  never ! 
It  is  the  empire  of  the  world."  ^ 

On  the  6th  of  November,  1816,  Napoleon,  at  St. 
Helena,  conversing  with  Las  Casas,  said,  "  Russia  has  a 
vast  superiority  over  the  rest  of  Europe  in  regard  to  the 
immense  powers  she  can  call  up  for  the  purpose  of  inva- 
sion, together  with  the  physical  advantages  of  her  situa- 
tion under  the  pole,  and  backed  by  eternal  bulwarks  of 
ice,  which,  in  case  of  need,  will  render  her  inaccessible. 
Who  can  avoid  shuddering  at  the  thought  of  such  a  vast 
mass,  unassailaljlc  on  the  flanks  or  in  the  rear,  descending 
upon  us  with  impunity  ;  if  triumphant,  overwhelming 
every  thing  in  its  course ;  or,  if  defeated,  retiring  amidst 

'  SIciicviil,  Vic  Privde  do  Napol(5on. 


212  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

the  cold  and  desolation  whicli  may  be  called  its  forces 
of  reserve,  and  possessing  every  facility  of  issuing  forth 
again  at  every  opportunity  ?  Constantinople  is,  from  its 
situation,  calculated  to  be  the  seat  and  centre  of  univer- 
sal dominion."  ^ 

Again  :  on  the  14th  of  February,  1817,  Dr.  O'Meara 
inquired  of  the  emperor  if  it  were  true  that  Alexander 
of  Russia  intended  to  seize  Constantinople.  The  em- 
peror replied,  — 

"  All  his  thoughts  are  directed  to  the  conquest  of 
Turkey.  We  have  had  many  discussions  about  it.  At 
first  I  was  pleased  with  his  proposals,  because  I  thought 
it  would  enhghten  the  world  to  drive  those  brutes,  the 
Turks,  out  of  Europe ;  but  when  I  reflected  upon  the 
consequences,  and  saw  what  a  tremendous  weight  of 
power  it  would  give  to  Russia  on  account  of  the  num- 
ber of  Greeks  in  the  Turkish  dominions  who  would 
naturally  join  the  Russians,  I  refused  to  consent  to  it, 
especially  as  Alexander  wanted  to  get  Constantinople, 
which  I  would  not  allow  ;  for  it  would  destroy  the  equi- 
librium of  power  in  Europe."^ 

A  few  months  after  this,  on  the  27th  of  May,  1817, 
the  conversation  again  turned  on  this  all -important 
subject,  in  the  humble  apartment  of  the  exile  at  St. 
Helena.    Speaking  to  Dr.  O'Meara,  the  emperor  said,  — 

"  In  the  course  of  a  few  years,  Russia  will  have  Con- 
stantinople, the  greatest  part  of  Turkey,  and  all  Greece. 
Almost  all  the  cajohng  and  flattery  which  Alexander 
practised  towards  me  was  to  gain  my  consent  to  effect 
this  object.  In  the  natural  course  of  things,  in  a  few 
years  Turkey  must  fall  to  Russia.     The  powers  it  could 

*  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena,  p.  451.  *  Idem,  p.  534. 


THE  EASTERN   QUESTION.  213 

injure,  who  could  oppose  it,  are  England,  France,  Prus- 
sia, and  Austria.  Now,  as  to  Austria,  it  will  be  very 
easy  for  Russia  to  engage  her  assistance  by  giving  her 
Servia,  and  other  provinces  bordering  on  the  Austrian 
dominions.  Tlie  only  hypothesis  that  France  and  Eng- 
land may  ever  he  allied  with  sincerity  will  he  in  order  to 
prevent  this.  But  even  this  alliance  will  not  avail. 
France,  England,  and  Prussia,  united,  cannot  prevent  it : 
Russia  and  Austria  can  at  any  time  effect  it."  ^ 

In  the  month  of  June,  1844,  the  Czar  Nicholas  of 
Russia  visited  the  court  of  Queen  Victoria.  He  was 
received  in  a  blaze  of  splendor  at  Windsor  Castle.  All 
the  honors  which  the  court  of  St.  James  could  confer 
were  lavished  upon  him.  It  was  subsequently  made 
known  to  the  world  through  the  memorandum  of  the 
Russian  minister.  Count  Nesselrode,  that  the  object  of 
the  czar  in  this  imperial  visit  was  to  induce  England  to 
lend  her  countenance  and  co-operation  in  driving  the 
Turks  out  of  Europe,  and  in  dividing  the  conquered 
territory  between  them.  It  was  indeed  a  princely  estate 
which  it  was  proposed  thus  to  seize.  Turkey  in  Europe 
covers  a  territory  twice  as  large  as  the  Island  of  Great 
Britain,  and  embraces  a  population  of  fourteen  millions, 
only  three  millions  of  whom  are  Mohammedans. 

The  following,  according  to  Count  Nessebode,  was 
the  proposition  which  the  czar  made  to  the  British  cabi- 
net :  Russia  was  to  incorporate  into  her  dominions  the 
tlu-ee  splendid  Danubian  provinces  of  Moldavia,  Wal- 
kichia,  and  Bulgaiia.  This  would  give  her  the  entire 
command  of  the  mouths  of  the  Danube.  The  czar  was 
also  to  be  permitted  to  establish  nominally  a  Greek 

'  Napoleon  at  St.  Ilolcna,  p.  502. 


214  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

power  in  Roumalia,  but  under  Russian  protection,  with 
Constantinople  as  its  capital.  This  was,  of  course,  sur- 
rendering Constantinople  to  Russia. 

Austria  was  to  receive  as  her  share  in  the  division 
the  fertile  and  beautiful  provinces  of  Servia  and  Bothnia. 
These  provinces,  situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  Dan- 
ube, adjoined  the  Austrian  possessions,  and  presented  a 
territory  of  great  fertility,  which  enjoyed  the  lovely  clime 
of  Italy.  The  provinces  embraced  over  forty  thousand 
square  miles,  being  a  little  larger  than  the  State  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  contained  about  two  million  inhabitants. 
Austria  was  also  to  be  permitted  to  extend  her  southern 
frontier  so  as  to  embrace  nearly  the  whole  of  the  east- 
ern coast  of  the  Adriatic  Sea. 

The  lovely  Island  of  Cyprus,  the  gem  of  the  East- 
ern Mediterranean,  a  hundred  and  forty-six  miles -long 
and  sixty  miles  broad,  was  to  be  transferred  to  England. 
With  this  island  as  a  naval  depSt,  England  was  also 
to  take  possession  of  the  whole  of  Egypt.  This  would 
give  her  the  command  of  the  canal  between  the  Medi- 
terranean and  the  Red  Sea,  and  would  greatly  facilitate 
her  intercourse  with  India.^ 

And  why  did  not  England  and  Austria  embrace  this 
magnificent  and  perfectly  feasible  plan?  That  there 
was  no  moral  principle  to  restrain  them  from  any 
measure  of  national  aggrandizement,  the  past  history 
of  the  two  kingdoms  amply  proves. 

And,  moreover,  what  claim,  it  might  be  asked,  can  the 
Turk  sliow  to  his  European  possessions  ?  He  crossed 
the  Hellespont  a  blood-stained  robber.     With  dripping 

*  Alison,  vol.  viii.  p.  40. 


THE   EASTERN   QUESTION.  215 

cimcter  he  hewed  his  patli  through  the  quivering  nerves 
of  the  vanquished  Christians.  Sraouklering  ruins  and 
gory  corpses  marked  every  step  of  his  progress. 

Why,  then,  did  not  England  and  Austria  consent  to 
this  division  of  European  Turkey?  It  was  because  this 
arrangement  woukl  make  Russia  so  powerful,  that  she 
M' ould  be  the  undisputed  monarch  of  the  Eastern  world. 
The  balance  of  power  in  Europe  would  be  destroyed, 
and  Russia  would  attain  a  supremacy  before  which  all 
other  European  po\vers  would  tremble. 

And  yet  nothing  in  the  future  seems  more  certain 
than  that  Russia  will  advance  to  Constantinople.  The 
late  Crimean  War  did  but  postpone  the  event  for  a  few 
3-cars.  On  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  where  questions  of 
European  balances  of  power  disturb  ns  not,  the  popular 
sympathies  are  almost  unanimously  in  favor  of  Russia. 
There  would  be  no  mourning  here  should  the  crescent 
fall,  and  should  the  Greek  cross  be  raised  over  the  dome 
of  St.  Sophia,  and  over  all  the  fortresses  which  frown 
along  the  heights  of  the  Bosphorus  and  the  Darda- 
nelles. 

Such  is  the  general  aspect  of  the  "Eastern  Question." 
In  all  the  diplomacy  which  now  agitates  Europe,  this 
question  invariably  comes  up  as  one  of  the  most  essen- 
tial elements.  There  are  many  rumors  that  a  secret 
understanding  now  exists  between  Russia  and  Prussia, 
by  Avhich  Russia  consents  tliat  Prussia  shall  organize  an 
immense  German  empire  in  the  heart  of  Europe,  which 
shall  overshadow  the  surrounding  monarchies;  and  Prus- 
sia, in  return,  is  to  support  Russia  in  her  march  to  Con- 
stantinople. If  this  be  the  fact,  Russia  and  Germany 
henceforth  liold  Europe  in  their  grasp.     All  the  other 


216  HISTORY   OP  PRUSSIA. 

monarchies  will  be  virtually  tributary  to  these  two 
gigantic  powers.  Russia  enthroned  at  Constantinople, 
and  Prussia  the  head  of  imperial  Germany,  occupying 
the  whole  Valley  of  the  Rhine,  from  the  sea  to  the  Alps, 
can  bid  defiance  to  Europe  in  arms. 

France  is  now  powerless.  Prussia  is  acting  in  co- 
operation with  Russia.  England,  without  the  aid  of 
France,  can  accomplish  but  little.  Any  alhance  between 
England  and  democratic  France  is  impossible.  The 
British  Government  has  even  more  to  fear  from  democ- 
racy across  the  Channel  than  from  Russia  on  the  Bos- 
j)horus  and  the  Dardanelles. 

The  last  phase  of  this  all-exciting  and  ever-changing 
question  is,  that  England,  Russia,  and  Prussia  enter  into 
a  virtual  alliance ;  that  Prussia  be  permitted  to  work 
her  will  upon  France,  now  prostrate  before  her ;  that 
Russia  be  permitted  to  do  as  she  pleases  with  the  Otto- 
man Empire ;  and  that  England  seize  upon  the  Suez 
Canal,  thus  appropriating  to  herself  this  new  and  mag- 
nificent avenue  of  East-Indian  commerce,  which  France 
devised,  engineered,  and  constructed.  To  this  arrange- 
ment, France,  without  a  government,  without  an  army, 
impoverished,  exhausted,  bleeding,  can  present  no  op- 
position.^ 

^  Telegram  from  London,  Dec.  1, 1870. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


FRANCE    INVADED. 


N  Friday,  the  22d  of  July,  but  one  week 
after  the  declaration  of  war,  immense  divis- 
ions of  the  Prussian  army  were  gathered 
on  tlie  French  or  left  side  of  the  Rhine. 
These  vast  military  bands,  numbering  several 
hundred  thousands,  v/ere  marshalled  between 
the  two  massive  and  almost  impregnable 
fortresses  of  Coblentz  and  Mayence.  Braver  troops 
than  these  German  soldiers,  or  troops  better  disciplined, 
armed„and  officered,  never  marched  to  the  sound  of  the 
drum.  They  were  inspired,  not  only  by  patriotic  fervor, 
l)ut  by  the  full  conviction  that  their  cause  was  just  in 
tlie  sight  of  God. 

Tlie  next  day,  July  28,  a  division  of  this  army,  ad- 
vancing from  Saar-Louis,  on  the  southern  frontier  of  the 
Prussian-Rhine  provinces,  crossed  the  boundary,  and, 
invading  France,  marched  directly  south,  some  ten  or 
twelve  miles,  towards  St.  Avoid.  There  was  nothing  to 
oppose  them.  The  frontier  was  there  but  an  imaginary 
line,  unprotected  by  river,  mountain,  or  fortress. 

In  these  modern  days  there  is  great  power  in  public 
oj)inion.  Both  France  and  Prussia  were  alike  anxious 
to  obtain  the  moral  support  of  other  nations.     As  the 

217 


218  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

Prussian  troops  commenced  their  march,  Count  Bis- 
marck caused  a  communication  to  be  inserted  in  "  The 
London  Times  "  of  the  25th  of  July,  in  which  he  accused 
M.  Benedetti,  the  French  minister  at  Berhn,  of  pro- 
posing tliat  Prussia  should  allow  France  to  seize  and 
annex  Belgium  in  compensation  for  the  conquests  Prus- 
sia was  making.  This  statement  caused  intense  exas- 
peration in  England  against  the  imperial  government. 

To  this  M.  Benedetti  rephed  in  an  official  communi- 
cation to  the  Duke  of  Grammont,  the  French  minister  in 
Paris.  This  document,  which  attracted  the  attention  of 
all  Europe,  was  published  in  the  "  Journal  Officiel "  of 
July  29.  In  this  paper,  M.  Benedetti  declares,  that, 
instead  of  making  that  proposal  to  Prussia,  Count  Bis- 
marck himself  had  made  it  to  the  French  minister ;  and 
that,  upon  its  being  transmitted  to  the  French  emperor, 
he  had  immediately  rejected  it. 

"  It  is  matter  of  public  notoriety,"  writes  M.  Bene- 
detti, "  that  Count  Bismarck  offered  to  us,  before  and 
during  the  last  war,  to  assist  in  re-uniting  Belgium  to 
France  in  compensation  for  the  aggrandizement  he  aimed 
at,  and  which  he  has  obtained  for  Prussia.  I  might  on 
this  point  invoke  the  whole  diplomacy  of  Europe.  The 
French  Government  constantly  declined  these  overtures. 
M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys  is  in  a  position  to  give,  on  this 
point,  explanations  which  would  not  leave  any  doubt 
subsisting." 

Count  Bismarck  had  stated  that  he  had  this  commu- 
nication in  the  handwriting  of  M.  Benedetti.  To  this 
the  French  minister  replied,  — 

"  In  one  of  these  conversations,  and  in  order  to  form 
a  thorough  comprehension  of  his  intentions,  I  consented 
to  transcribe  them  in  some  sort  under  his  dictation.    The 


FRANCE  INVADED.  219 

form,  no  less  than  the  substance,  clearly  demonstrates 
that  I  confined  myself  to  reproducing  a  project  con- 
ceived and  developed  by  him.  Count  Bismarck  kept  the 
paper,  desiring  to  submit  it  to  the  king.  On  my  side, 
I  reported  to  the  imperial  govermnent  the  communi- 
cations which  had  been  made  to  me.  The  emperor 
rejected  them  as  soon  as  they  were  brought  to  his 
knowledge. 

"  If  the  initiative  of  such  a  treaty  liad  been  taken 
by  the  emperor's  government,  the  draft  would  have 
been  prepared  at  the  ministry,  and  I  should  not  have 
had  to  produce  a  copy  in  my  own  handwriting :  besides, 
it  would  have  been  differently  worded,  and  negotiations 
would  have  been  carried  on  simultaneously  in  Paris  and 
Berhn." 

These  contradictory  statements  agitated  the  press  of 
England  and  America.  Probably  each  reader  came  to 
a  decision  in  accordance  with  his  predilections,  whether 
they  were  in  favor  of  Prussia  or  France.  There  seemed 
to  be  no  room  for  misunderstanding.  The  contradiction 
was  positive  and  imquahfied.  Either  Count  Bismarck 
or  Count  Benedetti  must  have  uttered  a  deliberate  false- 
hood. 

We  ought,  in  justice  to  the  French  minister,  to  state 
that  Lord  Lyons,  the  British  minister  at  Berlin,  wrote 
a  letter  to  Lord  Granville,  in  which  he  fully  confirmed 
the  statements  of  the  French  ambassador.  This  letter 
was  dated  "Foreign  Office,  July  29,  1870,"  and  was 
published  in  "  The  London  Daily  News"  of  Aug.  2. 

"Those  who  have  watched,"  he  writes,  "the  course 
of  European  affairs  since  the  accession  to  office  of  M. 
Bismarck,  are  aware  from  which  side  have  come  those 
suggestions  which  are  now  attributed  to  France.     Ever 


220  HISTORY    OF   PRUSSIA. 

since  the  year  1865,  M.  Bismarck  has  constantly  endeav- 
ored to  carry  out  his  own  plans  by  endeavoring  to  turn 
the  attention  of  the  French  Government  to  territorial 
aggrandizement.  He  told  M.  Lefebore  de  Behaine  that 
Prussia  would  willingly  recognize  the  rights  of  France 
to  extend  her  borders  wherever  the  French  language  is 
spoken,  thereby  indicating  certain  Swiss  cantons,  besides 
Belgium.  These  overtures  the  government  of  the  em- 
peror declined  to  entertain. 

"  After  the  battle  of  Sadowa,  Count  Bismarck  told  the 
French  ambassador  that  the  course  of  France  was  clear : 
The  French  Government  should  go  to  the  King  of  Belgi- 
um, and  explain  that  the  inevitable  increase  to  Prussian 
territory  and  influence  was  most  disquieting  to  their 
security,  and  that  the  sole  means  of  avoiding  these  dan- 
gerous issues  would  be  to  unite  the  destinies  of  Belgium 
and  France  by  bonds  so  close,  that  Belgium,  whose 
autonomy  would,  however,  be  respected,  would  become 
in  the  north  a  real  bulwark  of  safety  for  France.  The 
French  Government  declined  to  listen  to  these  proposals. 
These  suggestions  were  again  made  at  the  time  of  the 
Luxemburg  affair.  They  were  categorically  rejected  by 
the  emperor." 

Lord  Lyons  closes  his  long  letter  by  the  statement, 
"  that  the  document  under  the  handwriting  of  M.  Bene- 
detti  was  written  under  the  dictation  of  Count  Bis- 
marck, who  wished  to  entangle  the  French  Government 
in  a  conspiracy  against  the  Uberties  of  Belgium." 

On  the  26th  of  July,  at  half-past  six  o'clock  in 
the  evening.  King  William  left  Berlin  for  the  seat  of 
war.  The  queen  accompanied  him  to  the  railroad- 
Ktation,  which  was  decorated  for  the  occasion  with  flow- 
ers.    The   king   was  greeted   with   the   cheers   of    an 


FRANCE   INVADED.  221 

immense  multitude.  He  issued  the  following  procla- 
mation :  — 

"  On  my  departure  to-day  for  the  army,  to  fight  with 
it  for  Germany's  honor  and  the  preservation  of  our 
most  precious  possessions,  I  wish  to  grant  an  amnesty 
for  all  political  crimes  and  offences,  in  recognition  of  the 
unanimous  uprising  of  my  people  at  this  crisis.  My 
l^eople  know,  with  me,  that  the  rupture  of  the  peace, 
and  the  provocation  to  war,  did  not  emanate  from  our 
side ;  but,  being  challenged,  we  are  resolved,  placing 
full  trust  in  God,  to  accept  the  battle  for  the  defence 
of  Fatherland." 

Two  ddjs  after,  on  the  28th,  the  French  emperor, 
taking  with  him  his  son,  fifteen  years  of  age,  left  St. 
Cloud  for  the  frontier.     The  empress  was  left  as  regent. 

As  the  emperor  took  his  departure  for  a  conflict 
into  which  he  had  been  so  reluctantly  drawn,  he  said,  in 
a  brief  and  by  no  means  exultant  address  to  the  Legis- 
lative Corps,  "  We  have  done  all  in  our  power  to  avoid 
war ;  and  I  can  say  that  it  is  the  entire  nation  which 
luis,  in  its  irresistil)le  impulse,  prompted  our  resolution." 

In  his  proclamation  to  the  army,  he  said  in  despond- 
ent tones,  which,  at  the  time,  were  severely  censured, 
"  The  war  which  now  commences  will  be  long,  and 
hardly  contested ;  for  its  theatre  will  be  places  hedged 
with  oljstacles,  and  thick  with  fortresses." 

On  Sunday,  July  ol,  there  was  skirmishing  between 
the  advance-posts  of  the  French  and  Prussians  near  St. 
Avoid.  The  French  were  repulsed ;  but,  as  larger  French 
forces  were  in  the  vicinity,  the  Prussians  recrossed  the 
boundary,  and  retired  upon  Saarbruck.  On  Tuesday, 
the  2d  of  August,  the  Frencli  troops  crossed  the  fron- 
tier, luarclu'd  upon  Saarl)ru('k,  and  in  a  sliort  conflict, 


222  HISTORY    OF   PRUSSIA. 

which  lasted  from  eleven  o'clock,  a.  m.,  to  one  o'clock, 
p.  M.,  stormed  the  heights.  The  emperor  and  the 
Prince  Imperial  were  present.  It  was  an  affair  of  but 
little  moment,  rendered  memorable  only  by  the  private 
despatch  which  the  emperor,  proud  of  his  son's  heroism, 
sent  to  the  mother  of  the  boy.  The  telegram  from  the 
battle-field  was  as  follows :  — 

"  Louis  has  just  received  his  baptism  of  fire :  he  be- 
haved with  admirable  coolness.  A  division  of  Gen. 
Frossard  took  the  heights  which  overlook  the  left  bank 
of  Saarbruck.  The  Prussians  made  a  short  resistance. 
We  were  in  the  first  line :  the  balls  and  bullets  fell  at 
our  feet.  Louis  has  kept  a  bullet  which  fell  near  him. 
Some  of  the  soldiers  wept  on  seeing  him  so  calm." 

There  were  many  who  ridiculed  this  despatch  as  ab- 
surd. "  The  London  Echo  "  of  Aug.  4,  quoting  from 
"  The  London  Standard,"  says,  — 

"  The  stern  ordeal  with  which  the  Prince  Imperial 
was  confronted  was  a  state  necessity.  The  baptism 
of  war  is  a  sacrament  which  the  French  nation  regards 
with  pecuUar  devotion.  When  we  are  told  that  many 
soldiers  wept  at  seeing  him  so  calm,  we  perceive  that 
the  incident  may  have  its  theatrical  side  to  English 
eyes ;  but  to  Frenchmen  it  is  an  episode  not  easily  for- 
gotten :  and  it  may  be,  that,  in  after-years,  the  memory 
of  the  baptism  of  fire  at  Saarbruck  will  serve  the  prince 
better  than  all  the  traditions  of  his  house." 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


PRUSSIAN    VICTORIES    AND    FRENCH    DEFEATS. 

EN.  DOUAY'S  division  of  Marshal  Mac- 
Mahon's  corps  was  stationed  at  Weis- 
senbourg,  which  was  the  extreme  north- 
eastern post  of  France.  The  pretty  little 
town,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Lauter,  con- 
tained about  five  thousand  inhabitants. 
The  country  around,  rough  and  broken,  was 
covered  with  dense  masses  of  forest. 

There  were  about  thirty  thousand  French  troops  at 
WeissenbouTg.  Considerably  over  a  hundred  thousand 
Priissians,  advancing  from  the  strong  fortresses  of  Landau, 
Manheira,  and  Mayence,  emerged  unexpectedly  from  the . 
forests,  and  fell  upon  the  French  with  great  fury.  The 
battle  was  long  and  bloody.  The  Prussians,  marching 
recklessly  upon  the  ramparts  of  their  foe,  were  cut 
down  with  awful  carnage  by  the  accuracy  and  rapidity 
of  the  French  fire.  The  mitrailleuses  annihilated  whole 
regiments ;  but  the  French  were  overpowered,  routed, 
and  put  to  flight. 

The  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  led  the  Gorman  troops 
in  this  brilliant  and  successful  assault.  MacMalion  re- 
treated in  a  westerly  direction  to  Bitclie  and  Woerth. 
Tlie  Prussians  pursued  vigorously.     The  French,  liaving 

223 


224  HISTORY   OF   PRUSSIA. 

received  slight  re-enforcements,  made  another  stand,  with 
about  thirty-five  tliousand  men,  near  Woerth.  The 
Prussians,  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  strong,  again 
fell  upon  them.^  Notwithstanding  the  disparity  of  force, 
the  battle  was  fought  with  equal  desperation  on  botli 
sides.  The  slaughter  was  dreadful.  The  Prussians, 
advancing  in  dense  masses  against  the  artillery,  the  mi- 
trailleuses, and  the  musketry  of  their  foes,  suffered 
more  severely  than  the  French.  King  William's  ex- 
ultant telegram  to  Queen  Augusta  was  as  follows  :  — 

"Wonderful  luck!  —  this  new,  great  victory  won  by 
Fritz.  Thank  God  for  his  mercy  !  We  have  taken  thir- 
ty cannon,  two  eagles,  six  mitrailleuses,  four  thousand 
prisoners.  A  victorious  salute  of  a  hundred  and  one 
guns  was  fired  upon  the  field  of  battle." 

Napoleon  was  at  Metz.  He  sent  the  following  tele- 
gram to  Paris  :  "  Marshal  MacMahon  has  lost  a  battle. 
Gen.  Frossard,  on  the  Saar,  has  been  compelled  to  fall 
back.  The  retreat  is  being  effected  in  good  order.  All 
may  be  regained." 

As  the  French  retreated,  the  immense  German  army, 
estimated  at  from  five  to  eight  hundred  thousand  men, 
came  pouring  across  the  frontier  into  France.  Their 
impregnable  fortresses  upon  the  Rhine  afforded  them  a 
perfect  base  of  operations. 

The  German  cavalry,  in  pursuit,  came  upon  many 
thousand  fugitives  who  had  thrown  away  their  arms. 
All  the  villages  were  crowded  with  wounded  from  the 
battle  of  Woerth. 


'  "  It  is  positively  ascertained  at  the  ministry  of  war  in  Paris  that  Marshal 
MacMahon  had  only  thirty-five  thousand  men  at  the  battle  of  Woerth,  and  that 
the  Prussians  numbered  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand."  —  Correspondent  of 
the  Londun  Times,  Aug.  9,  1870. 


PRUSSIAN  VICTORIES   AND  FRENCH  DEFEATS.      225 

The  Prussians  testify  to  the  valor  of  their  foes  on  this 
occasion.  Eleven  times  the  French  charged  the  Prus- 
sian lines,  each  time  breaking  through  only  to  find  a 
mass  of  fresh  troops  behind.  Nearly  all  of  MacjNIahon's 
staff  were  killed.  The  marshal  himself,  after  having 
been  fifteen  hours  in  the  saddle,  was  unhorsed,  and  fell 
fainting  into  a  ditch.  Nothing  can  be  imagined  more 
liorrible  than  this  flight,  as  thirty  thousand  fugitives 
rushed  pell-mell,  pursued  by  four  times  their  number, 
hurling  upon  them  a  murderous  storm  of  shot  and  shell. 

The  correspondent  of  "  The  London  Times,"  then 
with  the  Prussian  army,  writes,  "  The  fighting  of  the 
French  was  grand.  The  Prussian  generals  say  they 
never  witnessed  any  thing  more  brilliant.  But  the 
Prussians  were  not  to  be  denied.  With  tenacity  as 
great,  and  a  fierce  resolution,  they  pressed  on  up  the 
heights,  where  the  vineyards  dripped  with  blood,  and, 
though  checked  again  and  again,  still  pressed  on  with  a 
furious  intrepidity  which  the  enemy  could  not  withstand 
in  that  long  fight  of  six  hours,  during  which  the  battle 
raged  in  full  vehemence.  It  lasted,  indeed,  for  thirteen 
houi-s."i 

It  is  a  wild  and  sad  glimpse  we  catch  of  Marshal  Mac- 
Mahon  at  the  close  of  this  disastrous  battle.  Accom- 
panied by  a  melancholy  procession  of  the  wounded,  he 
entered  Nancy  in  search  of  food  for  his  routed  and 
starving  army.  He  was  covered  with  mud  ;  his  clotlies 
were  torn  with  bullets ;  one  of  his  epaulets  had  been 
shot  away  ;  and  his  face  and  hands  were  blackened  with 
p(nvder.  It  was  almost  impossible  to  recognize  him. 
At  the  hotel  he  asked  for  some  cold  meat.     For  twenty- 

'  London  Times,  Auji;-  9- 
16 


226  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

eight  hours  he  had  tasted  no  food.  Some  one  asked  him 
of  the  cuirassiers.  "  There  are  none  of  them  left,"  he 
replied  sadly.  The  Crown  Prince  was  in  hot  pursuit. 
The  marshal,  with  his  broken  and  dispirited  ranks, 
hurried  on.^ 

The  French  retreated  in  two  bands,  —  one,  under  Gen. 
Frossard,  towards  Metz  ;  the  other,  under  Gen.  MacMa- 
hon,  by  a  more  southerly  route,  towards  Nancy.  It  was 
manifest,  to  the  surprise  of  France  and  all  Europe,  that 
Prussia  had  brought  into  the  field  forces  so  overwhelm- 
ing in  numbers,  that  the  French  troops  would  be  com- 
pelled to  take  refuge  in  their  fortresses  until  the  nation 
could  be  roused  to  arms.  France  had  not  more  than 
three  hundred  arnd  fifty  thousand  troops  in  all  her  north- 
ern departments.  A  gentleman  in  Berlin  wrote,  —  and 
subsequent  facts  sustain  his  declaration,  — 

"  There  are  now  in  France  over  seven  hundred  thou- 
sand effective  German  troops.  Besides  these,  three  new 
armies  are  forming ;  and  in  less  than  a  fortnight  they 
will  be  where  they  are  most  needed.  The  rapidity  with 
which  the  present  army  was  equipped  and  sent  to  the 
frontier  was  one  of  the  most  stupendous  achievements 
of  war.  These  new  armies  will"  raise  the  effective  Ger- 
man force  to  something  over  a  milhon.  There  are, 
besides,  enough  trained  and  experienced  soldiers  here 
to  double  that  number,  if  there  should  be  even  a  suspi- 
cion of  their  necessity. 

"  The  first  principle  the  government  adopted  for  car- 
rying on  the  war  was,  not  to  see  with  how  few  soldiers 
they  could  get  on,  but  rather  how  many  could  in  any 
way  be  employed  to  hasten  its  successful  termination. 

1  Loudon  Daily  News,  Aug.  20,  1870. 


PRUSSIAN    VICTORIES   AND   FRENCH   DEFEATS.      227 

If  one  million  of  men  could  make  final  success  reasona- 
bly certain,  and  two  millions  would  hasten  that  success, 
two  millions  were  to  be  called  without  a  moment's  hesi- 
tation." 

There  was  now  apparently  a  constant  battle.  The 
roar  of  artillery,  the  crackle  of  musketry,  and  the  tramp 
of  charging  squadi'ons,  were  heard  almost  every  hour  of 
every  day.  Wherever  the  French  made  a  stand,  they 
were  assailed.  No  matter  how  strong  their  position,  no 
matter  with  what  desperation  of  valor  they  might  face 
their  foes,  they  were  invariably  overwhelmed  and  routed. 
Even  if  they  succeeded  for  a  time  in  repelling  at  any 
pomt  the  Prussian  assault,  and  literally  covered  the 
field  with  the  Prussian  dead,  new  forces  of  the  foe  soon 
came  rushing  forward ;  and  the  French  shouts  of  victory 
were  hushed  in  the  silence  of  defeat,  flight,  and  death. 

The  Prussian  officers  seemed  quite  reckless  of  human 
life.  The  German  soldiers  fought  as  though  life  to  them 
was  of  no  value.  Not  three  weeks  had  passed  from  the 
commencement  of  hostilities  ere  it  was  announced  that 
two  hundred  thousand  Prussian  soldiers  had  fallen,  or 
had  been  captured,  in  a  constant  series  of  Prussian  vic- 
tories. 

While  Gen.  MacMahon  was  on  his  flight  towards 
Nancy,  pursued  by  numbers  which  he  could  not  resist, 
another  immense  German  army  was  advancing  in  rapid 
strides  for  the  investment  of  the  French  fortress  of 
Metz.  This  was  by  far  the  strongest  military  post  which 
France  had  in  her  north-eastern  provinces.  At  the 
same  time,  another  German  army  marched  to  lay  siege 
to  the  -French  city  and  fortress  of  Strasburg  on  the 
Rhine. 

The  alaim  in  Paris  was  great.     The  government  had 


228  HISTORY.  OF   PRUSSIA. 

no  force  sufficient  even  to  retard  the  advance  of  the 
victorious  foe  to  the  walls  of  the  metropolis.  Vigorous 
measures  were  immediately  adopted  for  the  defence 
of  the  city.  Laws  were  passed  summoning  all  unmar- 
ried Frenchmen  between  the  ages  of  twenty-five  and 
thirty-five  to  the  defence  of  the  country. 

On  the  7th  of  August,  the  Empress  Eugenie,  who  had 
been  intrusted  with  the  regency  during  the  absence 
of  the  emperor  to  the  front,  issued  the  following  procla- 
mation from  the  Tuileries  :  — 

"  Frenchmen,  the  opening  of  the  war  has  not  been  in 
our  favor.  Our  arms  have  suffered  a  check.  Let  us  be 
firm  under  this  reverse,  and  let  us  hasten  to  repair  it. 
Let  there  be  among  us  but  a  single  party,  —  that  of 
France  ;  but  a  single  flag,  —  the  flag  of  our  national 
honor. 

"  Faithful  to  my  mission  and  my  dutjs  you  will  see 
me  first  where  danger  threatens,  to  defend  the  flag 
of  France.  I  call  upon  all  good  citizens  to  preserve 
order :  to  disturb  it  would  be  to  conspire  with  our  ene- 
mies. "  Eugenie." 

Marshal  Bazaine  at  Metz  was  appointed  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  French  armies  on  the  Rhine.  He  had  a 
disposable  force,  could  he  concentrate  it,  of  about  two 
hundred  and  thirty  thousand  men  with  which  to  repel 
three  times  that  number  of  Germans.  Gen.  MacMahon, 
with  thirty-five  thousand  troops,  was  effectually  cut  off 
from  him  at  Nancy,  about  thirty  miles  on  the  south. 

The  generalship  of  the  French  officers  in  these  con- 
flicts has  been  very  severely,  and  perhaps  justly,  con- 
demned.    Still  it  is  obvious  that  no  skill  of  generalship 


PRUSSIAN   VICTOKIES   AND   FRENCH   DEFEATS.      220 

could  counteract  such  a  vast  disproportion  in  numbers. 
The  Prussian  troops  were  as  brave,  as  well  armed,  and 
as  ably  officered,  as  any  troops  that  ever  entered  a  battle- 
field. 

A  correspondent,  writing  to  "  The  London  Standard  " 
from  Berlin,  Aug.  18,  says,  "  Great  credit  is  given  the 
French  emperor,  in  Berlin,  for  the  straightforward  way 
in  which  he  has  acknowledged  his  disasters.  '  MacMa- 
hon  has  lost  a  battle  '  is  a  direct  style  of  speaking  not 
usual  among  the  French  when  there  is  any  thing  un- 
pleasant to  relate." 

Just  after  the  battle  of  Woerth,  a  French  officer,  who 
was  taken  prisoner,  reported  in  the  "  Gaulois,"  "His 
Royal  Highness  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  talked  to 
us  about  the  war,  which  he  said  he  detested.  He  was  in- 
exhaustible in  his  praises  of  the  bravery  of  the  French. 
'  Two  regiments  of  cuirassiers,'  he  said,  '  were  sent 
against  the  Prussian  batteries.  Our  infantry  was  deci- 
mating them ;  and  yet  they  formed  again  as  if  on 
parade,  and  charged  again,  sword  in  hand,  with  wonder- 
ful ensemble. 

"'I  was  at  Paris,'  he  continued,  'about  the  end 
of  December,  and  saw  the  emperor,  who  always  showed 
great  kindness  to  my  wife  and  me.'  "  * 

These  reverses  caused  intense  excitement  in  Paris, 
and  inspired  the  opponents  of  the  government  with  new 
energies.  Jules  Favre,  the  eloquent  leader  of  the  demo- 
cratic opposition  in  the  Legislative  Corps,  in  an  impas- 
sioned speech,  attributed  the  reverses  of  the  army  to  the 
absolute  incapacity  of  the  emperor.  He  demanded  that 
the  emperor  should  relinquish  the  command,  and  tliat  tho 

'  Le  Gaulois,  Aug.  12,  1870. 


230  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

legislative  body  should  take  in  hand  the  direction  of  the 
affairs  of  the  country. 

Indescribable  agitation  followed  this  speech.  The 
deputies  in  opposition  to  the  government  applauded ; 
but  the  majority  protested.  Gen.  Cassagnac  declared 
that  such  a  movement  was  the  commencement  of  revo- 
lution. Gesticulating  frantically,  he  exclaimed,  "  If  the 
ministry  did  their  duty,  you  would  be  tried  by  court- 
martial,  and  shot !  " 

There  was  a  great  uproar.  The  members  rushed  from 
their  seats.  It  is  said  that  there  were  some  personal 
rencounters.  The  president,  after  in  vain  attempting  to 
restore  order  by  ringing  his  bell,  put  on  his  hat,  thus 
announcing  that  the  sitting  was  suspended.  The  com- 
motion in  the  streets  of  Paris  was  still  more  exciting'.-' 

The  shattered  fragments  of  the  French  army,  no 
longer  able  to  cope  with  the  foe,  were  on  the  retrograde 
movement  for  the  defence  of  Paris.  The  Germans  vig- 
orously pursued,  spreading  in  all  directions,  foraging 
freely,  capturing  small  towns,  and  levying  heavy  contri- 
butions upon  the  people.  The  vilest  of  men  always 
rush  into  the  ranks  of  an  army.  There  is  no  power 
of  discipline  which  can  prevent  awfiQ  scenes  of  outrage 
wherever  armies  move.  Stories  are  told  of  atrocities 
committed  by  both  French  and  Germans,  too  revolting 
to  be  repeated. 

It  was  about  sixty  miles  fi'om  Woerth  to  Metz  and  to 
Nancy.  An  army,  with  its  artillery-train,  can  seldom 
move  more  than  fifteen  miles  a  day.  The  Prussians 
were  in  such  amazing  force,  that  they  occupied  all  the 
passes  of  the  Vosges  Mountains.     One  strong  body  of 

'  Lloyd's  Weekly  London  Newspaper,  Aug.  14,  1870. 


PRUSSIAN   VICTORIES   AND   FRENCH   DEFEATS.      231 

troops  was  sent  to  lay  siege  to  Strasburg ;  another 
surrounded  the  fortress  of  Bitche;  while  the  cavalry 
from  the  army  of  the  Crown  Prince,  Frederick  William, 
approached  Metz.  The  cavahy  of  the  army  of  the 
Prince  Royal,  which  was  on  the  advance  to  Paris  by 
parallel  roads  about  thirty  miles  south,  moved  upon 
Luneville. 

jMarshal  Bazaine,  with  about  a  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  men,  was  compelled  to  take  refuge  beneath 
the  walls  of  Metz.  Beyond  Metz,  the  road  to  the  capital 
was  open.  The  Prussian  army,  pushing  on  between 
Metz  and  Nancy,  prevented  any  union  of  MacMahon's 
division  with  that  of  Bazaine.  MacMahon  continued 
his  retreat  towards  Paris ;  and,  on  the  morning  of  the 
12th  of  August,  the  Prussians  took  possession  of  the  city 
of  Nancy.  The  Prussians  were  now  within  two  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  of  Paris. 

Metz,  which  was  to  be  the  scene  of  so  much  heroism 
and  suffering,  was  a  fine  city  of  fifty -six  thousand  inhab- 
itants. It  was  situated  at  the  confluence  of  the  Seillc 
and  the  Moselle,  and  contained  one  of  the  largest  arse- 
nals in  France,  with  founderies  and  machinery  of  all 
kinds  for  the  manufacture  of  arms  and  miUtary  equip- 
ments. Its  defences  were  considered  almost  impregna- 
ble ;  the  fortifications  having  been  constructed  by 
Vauban.  In  the  year  1552,  the  emperor,  Charles  V., 
besieged  the  place  for  ten  months.  Though  the  garrison 
was  small,  it  held  the  works  firmly ;  and  the  emperor, 
after  the  unavailing  efforts  of  nearly  a  year,  was  com- 
pelled to  raise  the  siege,  having  lost  ten  thousand  men. 

Into  this  fortress  Bazaine  was  driven,  with  not  less 
than  a  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  troops  under  his 
command.     He  was  a  man  of  great  military  renown.     It 


232  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

was  supposed  that  such  a  fortress,  so  garrisoned,  could 
hold  out  against  any  odds  for  many  months.  Bazaine 
had  risen  to  his  proud  eminence  as  a  marshal  of  France 
through  his  own  energies.  In  1831  he  had  enlisted  as 
a  private  in  the  army,  and  had  started  for  Africa  with 
his  knapsack  on  his  back.  In  four  years  he  rose  to  a 
sub-lieutenancy.  He  accompanied  the  army  sent  by 
Louis  Philippe  to  Spain  to  assist  Isabella  against  the 
Carlists.  In  1839  he  returned  to  Algiers  with  the  rank 
of  captain.  In  1850  he  obtained  a  colonelcy.  During 
the  Italian  war,  his  bravery  and  military  ability  were 
brilliantly  displayed.  In  Mexico  he  won  his  marshal's 
hdton.  He  is  the  youngest  of  the  French  marshals, 
being  now  fifty-nine  years  of  age.  He  has  ever  been 
an  ardent  supporter  of  the  imperial  government  in 
France. 

On  the  14th  of  August,  the  emperor  was  at  Verdun, 
about  thirty  miles  west  of  Metz.  MacMahon  had  re- 
treated from  Nancy  to  Toul,  moving  towards  Verdun. 
Bazaine,  leaving  a  garrison  in  the  fortress  of  Metz, 
endeavored  with  the  main  body  of  his  army  to  effect 
a  junction  with  MacMahon  at  Verdun.  He  had  trans- 
ported about  half  his  force  across  the  Moselle,  to  the 
left  bank,  when  the  Prussians  fell  suddenly  upon  him. 
The  battle  was  fierce  even  to  desperation.  The  slaughter 
on  both  sides  was  dreadful.  The  French  were  driven 
back  to  Metz. 

For  days  and  weeks  almost,  an  incessant  battle  raged 
around  this  fortress.  Marshal  Bazaine  had  about  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  men  whom  he  could  bring  into 
the  field.  Prince  Frederick  Charles,  in  command  of  the 
Prussian  force,  had  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand. 
With  great  military  sagacity,  he  had  so  posted  his  troops 


PRUSSIAN  VICTORIES   AND   FRENCH   DEFEATS.      233 

as  to  cut  oif  all  the  avenues  of  escape.  It  has  generally 
been  thought  that  Bazaine  ought  to  have  cut  his  way 
through  his  foes.  It  is  easy,  seated  by  one's  fireside,  to 
form  such  a  judgment.  No  one  can  doubt  the  ability, 
bravery,  or  patriotism,  of  Bazaine.  The  bloody  battles 
which  were  fought  day  after  day  testify  to  the  energy 
of  his  attempts.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Prince 
Charles  was  one  of  the  most  able  and  experienced  of 
military  commanders  ;  that  he  had  an  army  outnumber- 
ing the  French  by  eighty  thousand  men ;  that  he  had 
thrown  up  intrenchments  across  every  avenue  of  escape, 
which  intrenchments  were  bristling  with  artillery,  mi- 
trailleuses, and  the  needle-gun.  Never  before  were 
battles  so  bloody.  The  slain  were  counted  by  tens 
of  thousands*.  The  hospitals  were  crowded  with  the 
mutilated  victims  of  this  awful  strife. 


CHAPTER   XX. 


THE    CAPTURE    OF    SEDAN. 


/HE  "  London  Globe "  of  Aug.  15  contains 
a  letter  from  an  intelligent  gentleman  in 
Berlin,  containing  the  following  statement : 
"  A  very  reliable  informant  ^  states,  that, 
within  one  week,  Germany  will  have  an 
effective  army  of  1,200,000  men.  I  should 
feel  great  caution  in  giving  currency  to 
these  figures,  were  it  not  that  I  am  certain  that  my  in- 
formant is  in  a  position  to  know." 

The  movements  of  the  Prussians  were  as  cautious  as 
they  were  impetuous.  It  was  their  evident  design  that 
the  whole  country  behind  the  German  armies,  as  far 
back  as  the  Rhine,  should  be  cleared  of  every  military 
obstruction.  They  therefore  seized  upon  all  the  barri- 
ers of  the  Vosges  ;  and  their  numbers  were  so  immense, 
that,  while  a  victorious  army  was  advancing  upon  Paris, 
they  had  all  the  forces  they  needed  to  conduct  the 
sieges  of  Metz,  Strasburg,  Bitche,  and  every  other 
fortress  they  found  upon  their  way.  The  annals  of  war 
scarcely  present  an  example  of  so  triumphant  a  march. 
The  dismay  and  distress  occasioned  in  the  homes  of  the 
peasantry,  and  in  the  villages,  as  these  apparently 
countless  thousands  of  Prussians  swept  triumphantly 


234 


THE   CAPTURE   OF   SEDAN.  235 

along,  cannot  bo  imagined.  Vast  numbers  (men,  women, 
and  children)  fled  from  their  homes,  abandoning  every 
thing,  and  in  utter  destitution  sought  refuge  in  tho 
walled  towns.  God  alone  can  comprehend  the  amount 
of  misery  inflicted ;  and  as,  on  the  field  of  battle,  the 
missiles  of  war  strewed  the  ground  with  the  mangled, 
far  away,  amid  the  vineyards  of  Germany  and  the  cot- 
tages of  France,  the  woe  was  reduplicated  as  mothers 
and  wives  and  loving  maidens  in  despair  surrendered 
themselves  to  life-long  woe. 

A  French  officer  who  was  taken  prisoner  gives  the 
following  pleasing  accounts  of  an  interview  with  his 
victor :  — 

"  Prince  Frederick  William,  heir  to  the  crown  of  Prus- 
sia, is  a  tall,  thin  man,  with  a  tranquil  and  placid  physi- 
ognomy ;  to  which,  however,  the  curve  of  his  aquiline 
nose  and  the  vivacity  of  his  eye  lend  a  stamp  of  decis- 
ion. He  speaks  the  French  language  with  great  purity. 
'  We  all,'  said  he,  '  admired,  yesterday,  the  tenacity  and 
courage  evinced  by  the  very  meanest  of  your  soldiers.  I 
do  not  like  war :  if  I  ever  reign,  I  will  never  make  it.  But, 
in  spite  of  my  love  of  peace,  this  is  the  third  campaign 
I  have  been  obliged  to  make.  I  went  yesterday  over 
the  field  of  battle  :  it  is  frightful  to  look  at.  If  it  only 
depended  on  me,  this  war  would  be  terminated  on  the 
spot.  It  is,  indeed,  a  terrible  war.  I  shall  never  offer 
battle  to  your  soldiers  without  being  superior  in  num- 
ber: without  that,  I  should  prefer  to  withdi-aw.'  "  ^ 

All  alike  seem  to  combine  in  testifying  to  the  heroism 
of  the  French  soldiers.  A  writer  in  "  The  London 
Times"   of  Aug.    16   says,      "It    may   be   questioned 

>  London  Daily  News,  Aug.  15, 1870. 


236  HISTORY   OP   PRUSSIA. 

whether  the  French  have  not  gathered  more  real  glory 
from  their  defeats  than  the  Prussians  from  their  victo- 
ries. Greater  devotion  was  probably  never  witnessed  in 
any  war  than  that  of  certain  French  regiments,  which 
rushed,  at  the  voice  of  their  general,  upon  inevitable 
destruction.  The  Prussians  have  fought  where  they 
liked  and  when  they  liked,  and  always  with  treble 
forces." 

While  Bazaine  was  in  vain  endeavoring  to  cut  his  Avay 
from  Metz  over  the  ramparts  of  his  foe,  MacMahon, 
with  about  thirty  thousand  men,  was  retreating  upon 
Chalons,  pursued  by  the  Crown  Prince  at  the  head  of 
a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  troops  flushed  with 
victory.  On  the  16th  of  August,  the  remnants  of  Mac- 
Mahon's  corps,  numbering  but  fifteen  thousand  men, 
reached  Chalons,  where  re-enforcements  were  met  which 
raised  their  number  to  eighty  thousand. 

"  MacMahon,"  says  "  The  London  Times,"  "  in  this 
retreat,  has  inflicted  awful  loss  on  the  German  army. 
There  will  be  mourning  in  many  thousand  households, 
from  the  Rhine  to  the  Vistula,  and  from  the  shores  of 
the  Baltic  to  the  frontiers  of  Southern  Bavaria.  But 
then  the  Duke  of  Magenta  has  been  utterly  routed,  and 
his  defeat  must  have  carried  terror  to  the  gates  of 
Paris."  1 

In  these  hours  of  disaster,  Gen.  Trochu,  who  had  al- 
ready attained  celebrity  as  a  brilliant  officer,  was  ap- 
pointed, by  the  emperor,  Governor  of  Paris,  and  com- 
mander-in-chief of  all  the  forces  assembled  for  its  de- 
fence. Gen.  Trochu  was  an  imperialist ;  believing,  with 
the  overwhelming  majority  of  his  countrymen,  that  the 

1  London  Times,  Aug.  11,  1870. 


THE   CAPTURE   OF  SEDAN.  237 

empire  was  a  better  government  for  France  than  the 
old  monarchy  under  a  Bourbon  or  an  Orleans  prince,  or 
the  republic  under  such  men  as  Favre  and  Hugo  and 
Rochefort 

Strasburg  on  the  Rhine  contained  eighty-four  thou- 
sand inhabitants.  "  The  Alsatians,"  says  "The  London 
Times,"  "  are  more  loyal  Frenchmen,  almost,  than  the 
Parisians."  A  large  force  surrounded  the  city,  and  soon 
opened  upon  it  a  terrible  bombardment  from  the  siege- 
guns  which  they  gathered  from  their  fortresses  near  at 
hand.  MacMahon  had  retreated  to  Chalons,  fifty  miles 
west  of  Metz,  The  Crown  Prince,  with  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  troops,  was  on  the  triumphant  march 
towards  Paris.  Bazaine  was  hopelessly  shut  up  in  jMetz, 
■svith  his  ammunition  and  provisions  rapidly  disappear- 
ing. Bands  of  Prussian  cavalry  were  riding  in  all  di- 
rections, emptying  the  granaries  and  the  barn-yards  of 
the  peasants,  and  imposing  enormous  contributions  on  the 
towns  which  were  captured.  Desolation  and  misery  were 
everywhere.  The  fields  were  covered  with  the  unburied 
dead,  Vionville,  Flavigny,  Rezonville,  and  Gravelotte 
were  mostly  in  ashes.  Families  were  wandering  in  the 
fields  in  terror  and  starvation. 

The  emperor  was  at  Chalons,  striving  to  assemble 
there  a  new  army  to  arrest  the  advance  of  the  Prussians 
upon  Paris.  There  was  no  longer  any  French  army  in 
the  field.  Such  a  sudden  collapse  of  one  of  the  strong- 
est military  powers  in  the  world  was  never  before  wit- 
nessed. A  war  of  a  fortnight  had  laid  France  pros- 
trate ;  and  this  was  done  by  a  nation  which  but  about 
a  century  ago  could  count  but  five  million  inhabitants. 
It  was  supposed  that  the  Prussians  would  march  irre- 
sistibly over  the  fortifications  of  Paris,  and  speedily  en- 


238  HISTORY   OF  PEUSSIA. 

camp  their  hosts  in  the  Garden  of  the  Tuileries  and  in 
the  Elysian  Fields.  Sorrows  never  come  singly.  Dis- 
aster followed  disaster.  The  scenes  described  by  eye- 
witnesses appall  the  imagination.  In  the  silence  of  night, 
all  the  wooded  gorges  of  the  Ardennes  resounded  with 
the  moan  of  the  mutilated  and  the  dying,  rising  in  one 
continuous  wail.  The  houses  and  the  barns  were  filled 
with  the  sufferers.  In  one  short  battle,  the  French  alone 
lost  fifteen  thousand  in  killed  and  wounded ;  and  the 
Prussians,  who  marched  recklessly  up  to  their  batteries 
of  artillery  and  mitrailleuses,  lost  twice  as  many.  The 
few  surgeons  could  do  comparatively  nothing  in  the 
midst  of  such  an  accumulated  mass  of  misery.  Thou- 
sands groaned  and  died  in  the  open  fields,  with  none  to 
give  them  even  a  cup  of  cold  water. 

The  great  object  of  Prussia  in  this  war,  as  expressed 
by  Bismarck  after  having  entered  upon  it,  and  by  all  the 
leading  Prussian  journals,  was  to  wrest  from  France  so 
much  additional  territory,  and  so  to  weaken  her,  that  she 
could  never  again  make  an  attempt  to  recover  her  lost 
Rhine  provinces.  The  panic  in  Paris  was  great ;  and 
frantic  efforts  were  made  to  prepare  for  a  siege. 

The  emperor  remained  with  MacMahon's  army,  hop- 
ing to  effect  a  junction  of  his  troops  with  those  of 
Bazaine.  The  plains  of  Chalons  are  as  level  as  a  floor, 
and  thus  poorly  adapted  for  a  defensive  battle.  On  the 
21st  of  August  the  French  camp  at  Chalons  was  broken 
up,  and  the  army  retired  about  thirty  miles  to  the  north- 
east, —  to  the  more  broken  ground  of  Rheims.  As  these 
armies  of  retreat  and  pursuit  rushed  along,  scenes  of 
heart-rending  woe  were  witnessed  among  the  inhabitants 
of  the  region  thus  swept  by  the  devastating  tempests  of 
war.     The  Belgian  frontier  was  overrun  with  thousands 


THE    CAPTURE   OF   SEDAN.  239 

of  families  seeking  refuge  there  in  utter  impoverish- 
ment. 

The  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  was  now  within  a  hun- 
dred miles  of  Paris.  There  was  no  force  before  him  to 
oppose  his  march.  An  advance  force  of  cavalry  had 
been  pushed  forward  to  witliin  sixty-five  miles  of  the 
capital.  The  zeal  of  the  French  people  in  the  war,  not- 
withstanding their  disasters,  is  manifest  from  the  fact, 
that  a  new  war  loan  of  a  thousand  million  francs  was 
taken  up  in  forty-eight  hours.  Strasburg  was  holding 
out  firmly  against  a  terrible  bombardment.  The  whole 
populace  of  Paris  was  roused  to  prepare  the  city  for  the 
approaching  siege.  Tliough  the  Prussians  had  encoun- 
tered enormous  losses,  the  railroad-trains  from  the  Rhine 
were  crowded  with  their  re-enforcements  hurrying  for- 
ward to  fill  the  places  of  those  who  had  fallen. 

Never  was  the  march  of  an  invading  army  more  reso- 
lute. On  Sunday,  the  25th  of  August,  the  Prussian 
scouts  had  reached  Mieux,  within  twenty-five  miles  of 
Paris.  It  was  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles  from 
Sierca,  the  nearest  point  on  the  Prussian  frontier,  to  the 
city ;  and  yet  this  long  line,  through  French  territory, 
Prussia  guarded  perfectly  against  a  warlike  nation  of 
forty  millions  inhabitants.  The  French,  unable  to 
meet  their  foes  in  the  field,  did  what  they  could  to 
harass  their  march  by  blowing  up  bridges,  cutting  rail- 
ways, and  l)locking  roads. 

A  constant  stream  of  French  prisoners  and  of  captured 
guns  and  flags  was  entering  the  streets  of  Berlin,  causing 
the  frequent  blaze  of  illuminations  and  the  most  enthusi- 
astic demonstrations  of  joy.  The  French,  acting  on  the 
defensive,  fought  from  1)cliiiid  their  ram[)arts  and  in  their 
fortresses.     Though  invariably  in  the  end  defeated,  they 


240  HISTOKY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

as  invariably  inflicted  upon  their  assailants  a  heavier  loss 
in  killed  and  wounded  than  they  encountered.  The 
shouts  of  joy  which  resounded  through  the  streets  of 
Berlin  were  answered  by  deeper  wails  of  woe  emerging 
from  thousands  of  German  cottages,  whose  inmates 
were  plunged  into  life-long  woe.  It  seems  to  be 
authentically  stated  that  Prussia  had  then  1,124,000 
well-trained  and  disciplined  men  under  arms.  Seven 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  of  these  were  in  France. 
The  condition  of  France  was  apparently  hopeless.  The 
exultant  Prussians  were  marching  wherever  they  pleased, 
filling  their  camps  with  abundance,  exacting  enormous 
contributions,  and  compelling  France  to  drain  the  cup 
of  humiliation  to  its  di'egs. 

We  have  space  for  but  one  illustration  of  these  ex- 
actions. It  is  given  by  a  correspondent  of  "  The  Lon- 
don Times ; "  which  journal  was  in  cordial  sympathy 
with  the  Prussians.  The  little  town  of  Saverne  con- 
tained 5,331  inhabitants.  As  the  Prussian  troops  ap- 
proached, the  more  wealthy  portion  of  the  inhabitants 
fled.  The  contributions  demanded  of  the  town  were 
ten  thousand  loaves  of  three  pounds  each ;  sixteen 
tliiDusand  pounds  of  rice  ;  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
of  roasted  coffee  ;  fifteen  hundred  pounds  of  salt ;  one 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco ;  seventy-five  thousand 
cigars  of  superior  quality;  fifteen  thousand  quarts  of 
wine ;  two  hundred  pounds  of  sugar ;  fifty  pounds  of 
extract  of  meat ;  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  pounds 
of  oats  ;  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  hay ;  fifty  thousand 
pounds  of  straw.  These  were  all  to  be  delivered  before 
six  o'clock  the  next  morning  in  warehouses  appointed 
for  the  piu'pose.  A  hundred  wagons  were  to  be  fur- 
nished to  enable   the  victors  to  carry  away  this  food 


THK   CAPTURE   OF   SEDAN.  241 

and  forage.  Tlio  penalty  of  non-compliance  was  the 
general  plunder  of  the  town  by  the  soldiers. 

Scarcely  any  thing  conceivable  is  more  awful  than 
the  m'arch  through  a  country  of  half  a  million  of  hostile 
troops.  A  garden  may  bloom  before  them :  a  desert 
will  be  left  behind.  Famine  and  pestilence  inevitably 
follow  in  the  train. 

On  Tuesday,  the  30th  of  August,  the  army  of  the  Crown 
Prince  overtook  MaciMahon's  corps  a  short  distance  north 
of  Rlieims ;  and  after  a  fierce  battle,  of  enormous  slaugh- 
ter on  each  side,  the  Prussians  drove  the  shattered  army 
of  the  French  in  utter  rout  towards  Sedan.  During  all 
the  hours  of  the  31st,  the  battle  raged  in  an  incessant 
series  of  bloody  skirmishes,  as  the  French  troops,  about 
a  hundred  thousand  in  number,  pressed  on  every  side, 
fell  back,  bleeding,  exhausted,  despairing,  into  Sedan. 

From  the  commencement  of  the  war,  the  Prince  Im- 
perial, notwithstanding  his  youth,  had  accompanied  his 
father,  sharing  all  the  fatigues  of  the  campaign.  At 
the  commencement  of  these  hours  of  terrible  disaster, 
Marslial  MacMahon,  foreseeing  that  he  was  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  overwhelming  numbers,  urged  the  emperor, 
with  his  son,  to  withdraw.  The  emperor  resolved  to 
remain  with  the  army,  and  share  its  fate.  He  sent  his 
son,  however,  to  M^zieres,  and  thence  into  Belgium. 

The  dawn  of  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  September 
found  the  French  so  surrounded  as  to  be  cut  off  from  all 
possibility  of  retreat.  They  were  crowded  together  in 
a  narrow  space,  while  five  hundred  pieces  oi  artillery 
were  opening  fire  upon  them.  At  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  the  terrific  storm  of  battle  opened  its  thunders. 
It  was  an  awful  day.  In  the  first  hour  of  the  battle. 
Gen.  MacMahon  was  struck  by  the  splinter  oi"  a  shell, 

16 


242  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 


and,  was  carried  back,  severely  wounded,  into  Sedan. 
The  command  passed  to  Gen.  Wimpffen.  Nearly  tliree 
hundred  thousand  men  were  now  hurling  a  storm  of 
bullets,  shot,  and  shell,  into  the  crowded  ranks  ©f  the 
French.  It  was  an  indescribable  scene  of  tumult  and 
carnage.  A  correspondent  of  one  of  the  London  papers 
writes,  — 

"  All  describe  the  conduct  of  the  emperor  as  that  of 
one  who  either  cared  not  for  death,  or  actually  threw 
himself  in  its  way.  In  the  midst  of  the  scene  of  con- 
fusion which  ensued  upon  the  irruption  of  the  panic- 
stricken  French  into  Sedan,  the  emperor,  riding  slowly 
through  a  wide  street  swept  by  the  German  artillery 
and  choked  by  the  disordered  soldiery,  paused  a  moment 
to  address  a  question  to  a  colonel  of  his  staif. 

"  At  the  same  instant  a  shell  exploded  a  few  feet  in 
front  of  Napoleon,  leaving  him  unharmed ;  though  it 
was  evident  to  all  around  that  he  had  escaped  by  a 
miracle.  The  emperor  continued  on  liis  way  without 
manifesting  the  slightest  emotion,  greeted  by  the  enthu- 
siastic vivats  of  the  troops.  Later,  while  sitting  at  a 
window  inditing  his  celebrated  letter  to  the  King  of 
Prussia,  a  shell  struck  the  wall  just  outside,  and  burst 
only  a  few  feet  from  the  emperor's  chair,  again  leaving 
him  unscathed  and  unmoved." 

For  five  hours  the  emperor  had  been  exposed  to  a  fire 
which  filled  the  air  with  bullets,  ploughed  up  the  gTound 
at  his  feet,  and  covered  the  field  with  the  mutilated 
and  the  dead.  At  half-past  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. Gen.  Wimpffen  sent  an  officer  to  propose  that  the 
emperor  should  place  himself  in  the  middle  of  a  column 
of  men  who  should  endeavor  to  cut  their  way  through 
the  enemy.    The  emperor  replied,  that  he  coiald  not  con- 


THE    CAPTURE    OF    SEDAN.  243 

sent  to  save  himself  at  the  sacrifice  of  so  many  men  ; 
that  he  had  determined  to  share  the  fate  of  the  army. 
Though  a  large  portion  of  the  army  was  still  fighting 
valiantly  upon  the  heights  around  the  walls,  the  streets 
of  Sedan  were  choked  with  the  debris  of  all  the  corps, 
and  were  fiercely  bombarded  from  all  sides. 

After  twelve  hours  of  so  unequal  a  conflict,  the  com- 
manders of  the  corps  d^armSe  reported  to  the  emperor 
that  they  could  no  longer  offer  any  serious  resistance. 
The  emperor  ordered  the  white  flag  to  be  raised  upon 
the  citadel,  and  sent  the  following  letter  to  his  Prussian 
Majesty,  who  was  v/ith  the  conquering  army :  — 

"  Sire,  my  brother,  not  having  been  able  to  die  in  the 
midst  of  my  troops,  it  only  remains  for  me  to  place  my 
sword  in  the  hands  of  your  Majesty. 

"  I  am  of  your  Majesty  the  good  brother, 

"  Napoleon." 

William  immediately  replied,  "  Sire,  my  brother, 
regretting  the  circumstances  under  which  we  meet,  I 
accept  the  sword  of  your  Majesty  ;  and  I  pray  you  to 
name  one  of  your  officers  provided  with  full  powers  to 
treat  for  the  capitulation  of  the  army  which  has  so 
hravely  fought  under  your  command.  On  my  side,  I 
have  named  Gen.  Moltke  for  tliis  purpose. 

"  I  am  of  your  Majesty  the  good  brother, 

"  William." 

Gen.  Wimpffen  was  sent  to  the  Prussian licadquarters. 
•'  Your  army,"  said  Gen.  Moltke,  "does  not  number  more 
than  eighty  thousand  men.  We  have  two  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand,  who  completely  surround  you.      Our 


244  HISTOKY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

artillery  is  everywhere  in  position,  and  can  destroy  the 
place  in  two  hours.  You  have  provisions  for  only  one 
day,  and  scarcely  any  more  ammunition.  The  prolonga- 
tion of  your  defence  would  be  only  a  useless  massacre."  ^ 

Gen.  Wimpffen  returned  to  Sedan.  A  council  of 
thirty-two  general  oflBcers  was  called.  With  but  two 
dissentient  voices,  it  was  decided  to  be  useless  to  sacri- 
fice any  more  lives.     The  capitulation  was  signed. 

Our  distinguished  countryman.  Dr.  J.  Marion  Sims, 
was  present  at  the  battle  of  Sedan  as  surgeon-in-chief 
of  the  Anglo-American  ambulance-corps.  He  testifies 
as  follows  to  the  necessity  of  the  surrender :  — 

"  It  was  impossible  for  the  French  to  do  otherwise 
than  surrender.  The  emperor  was  not  to  be  blamed. 
It  was  simply  an  act  of  humanity  to  have  surrendered. 
On  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  September,  MacMahon 
left  his  hotel  at  six  o'clock.  The  battle  had  been  pro- 
gressing for  some  time.  At  half-past  six  he  received 
his  wound  in  the  thigh,  and  was  carried  back  to  his 
hotel.  The  command  then  devolved  upon  Gen.  Wimpf- 
fen,  who  had  arrived  only  the  day  before.  At  five 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  white  flags  were  raised ;  and,  at 
six  o'clock,  the  firing  ceased  entirely. 

"  On  the  next  day,  when  the  emperor  had  an  inter- 
view with  the  Idng  and  talked  of  capitulation.  Gen. 
Wimpffen  said  he  could  not  sign  the  articles ;  but  Bis- 
marck showed  him  how  the  forces  were  situated,  the 
French  hemmed  in,  and  without  ammunition  or  pro- 
vision, and  no  way  of  escape.  Then  Gen.  Wimpffen, 
seeing   he   was   surrounded   by   three    times    his   own 

'  Campagne  de  1870.  Des  Causes  qui  ont  amen^  la  Capitulation  de  Sedan, 
par  uu  Officier  attach^  a  I'fitat  Major-G6n(5ral. 


THE   CAPTURE   OF   SEDAN.  245 

strength  and  was  powerless,  had  to  sign  the  articles, 
after  being  but  a  few  hours  in  command. 

"  The  newspaper  reports  of  the  cruelty  of  the  Prus- 
sians are  not  in  the  least  exaggerated.  The  particulars 
are  not  fit  for  publication.  Some  eighty  thousand 
French  marched  from  Sedan  before  the  Prussian  hues 
to  the  little  .peninsula  formed  by  the  river,  where  they 
were  halted  after  the  capitulation.  It  was  the  saddest 
day  in  my  life  when  I  followed  the  poor  French  prison- 
ers ;  and,  if  I  lived  a  hundred  years,  I  could  never  for- 
get what  I  saw  them  endure.  They  were  several  days 
there  on  that  piece  of  lanxl,  dying  of  sickness  and 
starvation. 

"  The  Bavarians  utterly  destroyed  Bazeilles,  a  town 
of  three  thousand  inhabitants.  They  say  they  were 
fired  upon  from  the  windows  of  the  houses.  In  their 
rage  they  fastened  up  the  doors,  and  set  fire  to  each 
house,  burning  a  great  number  of  women  and  children. 
The  smell  of  charred  human  flesh,  for  several  days  after- 
wards, was  sickening.  The  Bavarians  also  shot  a  priest 
there,  and  some  nuns  and  school-girls,  besides  a  great 
number  of  citizens. 

"  I  think  the  emperor  never  looked  better  than  on 
the  day  of  his  surrender.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  sup- 
pose he  is  a  decrepit  old  man.  His  intellect  was  never 
more  vigorous ;  and  his  physical  health  is  perfect,  with 
the  exception  of  some  mere  infirmities.  He  is  occasion- 
ally sul)ject  to  sciatica,  but  to  no  disease  that  threatens 
life. 

"  It  is  said  that  the  Prince  Imperial  is  a  scrofulous 
boy.  That  is  another  great  mistake.  He  is  strong  and 
rosy,  in  perfect  health,  and  very  intelligent,  —  a  splen- 
did boy,  take  him  all  in  all.     When  he  was  ill  a  few 


246  HISTORY  OF   PRUSSIA. 

years  ago,  and  was  reported  scrofulous,  he  simply  had 
an  abscess,  the  result  of  pressure  m  taking  horse-riding 
lessons,  —  nothing  connected  in  the  least  with  disease 
of  the  bones  or  joints. 

"  They  say  the  emperor  has  millions.  I  sincerely 
hope  it  may  be  so  ;  but  I  have  it,  on  the  highest  author- 
ity, that  he  is  poor.  The  empress  has  property ;  and 
the  Prince  Imperial  has  property,  left  him  two  years 
ago  by  an  Italian  lady  who  died  in  Paris  ;  but  the  em- 
peror is  not  a  rich  man."  ^ 

*  Testimony  of  Dr.  Sims  in  the  New- York  Times,  Nov.  4, 1870. 


.1  € 


ITiHlI  iliffllPSlSOB.IIIulIPBEggofiiKI®  [PSDKl©!!  DlullPllIBDMc 
Executed  m  Pans  express^  for  'Abiott's  life  of  Jfapoleou  IH'' 


1 


BOSTON  ,  B.B-flUSSILl 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


THE    OVERTHROW    OF    THE    EMPIRE. 


ING  WILLIAM,  in  a  letter  which  he  wTote 
to  Queen  Augusta,  speaks  as  follows  of  his 
fallen  foe  :  — 

"  You  already  know,  through  my  three 
telegrams,  the  extent  of  the  great  historical 
event  which  has  just  happened.  It  is  like  a 
dream,  though  one  has  seen  it  unroll  itself 
hour  after  hour.  On  the  morning  of  the  2d  I  drove 
to  the  battle-field,  and  met  Moltke,  who  was  coming  to 
obtain  my  consent  to  the  capitulation.  He  told  me  that 
the  emperor  had  left  Sedan  at  five  o'clock,  and  had 
come  to  Donchery.  As  he  wished  to  speak  to  me,  and 
there  was  a  chateau  in  the  neighborhood,  I  chose  this 
for  our  meeting.  At  one  o'clock  I  started  with  Fritz, 
escorted  by  the  cavalry  staff.  I  alighted  before  the 
chateau,  where  the  emperor  came  to  meet  me.  We 
were  both  much  moved  at  meeting  again  under  such  cir- 
cumstances. What  my  feelings  were,  considering  that 
I  had  seen  Napoleon  only  three  3^cars  before  at  the 
summit  of  his  power,  is  more  than  I  can  describe." 

"  At  this  conference,"  writes  one  of  the  officers  of 
the  imperial  staff,  "  the  king  showed  the  lofty  feelings 
whicli  animated  him  by  exhibiting  to  the  emperor  all 

247 


248  HISTORY    OF  PRUSSIA. 

the  consideration  wliicli  his  misfortunes  demanded  ;  and 
the  emperor  preserved  an  attitude  of  the  utmost  dig- 
nity." 

The  illustrious  captive  was  assigned  to  the  Castle  of 
Wilhelmshohe,  near  Cassel,  one  of  the  most  attractive 
castles  in  Germany.  Accompanied  by  his  friends,  sup- 
phed  with  every  comfort,  and  surrounded  by  a  guard  of 
honor,  the  chains  which  held  the  prisoner  of  war  were 
invisible.^ 

The  tidings  of  this  great  calamity  soon  reached  Paris, 
and  created  intense  excitement.  The  democratic  party, 
which  numbered  in  its  ranks  many  of  the  lower  orders 
of  the  Parisian  populace,  deemed  it  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity to  overthrow  the  empire  and  to  grasp  the  reins 
of  power.  An  American  gentleman  then  in  Paris 
writes,  under  date  of  Sept.  4,  — 

"  Paris  is  in  a  state  of  riotous  excitement.  Crowds 
are  tearing  down  the  imperial  arms,  and  destroying  the 
golden  eagles  of  the  empire.  Fears  are  entertained 
that  the  city  will  soon  be  at  the  mercy  of  mobs." 

The  mob  shouted,  "  Down  with  the  empire  !  "  "  Live 
the  republic !  "  Gen.  Trochu,  Governor  of  Paris,  was 
called  for.  He  told  the  mob,  that,  having  taken  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  empire,  he  could  not  thus 
renounce  it.     The  crowd  at  length  became  so  menacing, 

1  Wilhelmshohe  is  one  of  the  finest  mansions  in  Europe.  It  is  said  to  have 
cost  about  ten  million  dollars,  and  was  built  from  the  money  which  the  Elector 
William  received  from  England  for  the  Hessian  troops  loaned  her  to  fight  the 
North-American  colonies.  The  castle  is  situated  but  a  short  distance  from  Cas- 
sel, which  was  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia.  It  is  erected  upon  a 
hill  commanding  a  magnificent  view  of  the  adjacent  country.  It  is  approached 
by  a  grand  avenue,  and  is  surrounded  by  one  of  the  finest  parks  in  Europe. 
The  palace,  which  is  built  of  white  sandstone  resembling  marble,  consists  of  a 
massive  central  tower,  flanked  by  spacious  wings.  The  garden,  spreading  out 
fixim  the  foot  of  the  tower,  is  renowned  for  its  picturesque  beauty. 


THE   OVERTHROW   OF  THE   EMPIRE.  249 

that  the  poKce  dispersed  it  with  firo-arras.  At  one 
o'clock,  P.M.,  a  crowd  of  a  hundred  thousand  armed 
men  surrounded  the  buikliug  of  the  Legislative  Corps, 
and  crowded  all  its  avenues,  rending  the  air  with  fren- 
zied shouts.  From  all  parts  of  the  city,  the  agitated 
masses  were  converging  towards  the  Legislative  Hall. 
The  friends  of  the  government  found  it  necessary  to 
secrete  themselves,  or  to  keep  silent.  The  Place  de  la 
Concorde  presented  a  compact  mass  of  human  beings. 
A  strong  military  force  guarded  the  Tuileries.  Shouts 
of  "  Vive  r(ipublique  !  "  rose  on  all  sides.  The  police 
were  overpowered  by  the  populace,  and  their  arms 
thrown  into  the  Seine.  Paris  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
mob.  The  populace  began  to  shout  for  the  abdication 
of  the  empress-regent.  Her  life  was  menaced  by  braw- 
ny men  and  women. 

There  are  few  things  on  earth  more  to  be  dreaded 
than  a  Paris  mob.  The  men  were  armed  with  muskets 
and  revolvers.  The  tumults,  the  shouts,  the  surgings 
to  and  fro,  and  the  menaces,  were  horrible.  Terror  had 
commenced  its  reign  ;  and  the  friends  of  order,  utterly 
helpless,  fled.  The  mob  burst  open  the  doors  of  the 
Legislative  Hall.  The  president  trembled  in  his  chair 
as  the  blouses,  with  oaths  and  execrations,  took  possession 
of  the  room.  Some  of  the  radical  speakers  tried  in 
vain  to  appease  them.  The  A'iends  of  the  government, 
composing  the  very  large  majority  of  the  deputies, 
escaped  as  they  could. 

"  What  the  minister  of  war  would  have  said,  what 
M.  Thiers,  and  even  Jules  Favre,  would  have  said,  re- 
mains to  be  imagined  ;  for  the  people  would  not  hear, 
but  yelled  '  Dechcance  !  '  so  savagely,  that  nothing  else 
was  heard.     The  crowd  kissed  the  jubilant  leaders  of  the 


250  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

left,  and  hurrahed  until  the  hall  rang.  The  president, 
putting  on  his  cap  to  announce  that  such  proceedings 
could  not  be  tolerated,  received  such  a  blow  on  the  head 
from  a  club,  that  he  fell  covered  with  blood,  and  was 
led  away  moaning,  while  other  infuriated  workmen  were 
striving  to  hit  him  again.  Enthusiastic  blouses  at  once 
set  off  up  the  boulevard,  bearing  huge  placards  announ- 
cing that  the  republic  was  proclaimed  by  185  votes 
agamst  113.  But  there  really  was  no  voting  at  all,  and 
no  one  to  vote  against  it."  ^ 

In  these  hours  of  tumult  and  terror,  the  deputies 
being  all  dispersed  by  the  vast  riot,  the  Empress  Eugenie 
was  at  the  Tuileries.  All  were  bewildered  by  the  sud- 
den outbreak  of  lawlessness  and  violence.  Worn  down 
with  care  and  sorrow,  she  listened  ajipalled  to  the  clamor 
which  was  surging  through  all  the  streets.  Tidings 
came  that  the  mob  was  advancing  to  sack  the  Tuileries. 
Her  woman's  heart  shrank  from  ordering  the  body- 
guard to  shoot  them  down.  The  conflict  between  the 
small  body-guard  and  the  mob  would  be  bloody,  and 
almost  certainly  unavailing.  The  only  safety  for  the 
empress  was  in  immediate  flight,  with  as  few  attendants 
as  possible,  that  she  might  avoid  observation. 

The  empress  had  but  just  retired  by  a  private  door, 
when  the  mob  came  surging  through  the  gravelled 
alleys  of  the  garden,  burst  open  the  doors  of  the  palace, 
and  rioted  unrestrained  through  all  its  apartments.  The 
flag  of  the  French  Empire  was  hauled  down,  and  insult- 
ing sentences  were  scribbled  upon  the  statues  and  the 
walls.  Hundreds  of  degraded  women,  foul  and  drunken, 
ransacked  the  ai^artments  of  Eugenie,  —  that  empress 

*  Paris  correspondence  of  the  Boston  Journal,  Sept.  5,  1870. 


THE   OVERTHROW   OF  THE   EMPIRE.  251 

who  for  twenty  years  had  proved  that  the  children  of 
sorrow  could  never  appeal  to  her  in  vain.  They  broke 
into  the  private  cabinet  of  the  emperor.  The  Babel  of 
their  songs  and  cries  resounded  far  and  wide  tlirough 
the  streets. 

Wliile  these  scenes  were  transpiring,  a  few  of  tlnj 
leaders  of  the  democratic  party  in  Paris  met  in  the 
H8tel  de  Ville,  and  organized  themselves  into  a  provis- 
ional government.  Gambetta,  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent of  these  men,  repaired  to  the  office  of  the  minis- 
ter of  the  interior,  and,  with  but  two  men  to  support 
him,  demanded  the  books.  The  imperial  officers,  aware 
that  the  mob  of  Paris  was  at  the  command  of  Gambetta, 
withdrew  from  the  office,  leaving  him  in  full  possession. 

It  was  thus  that  the  empire  in  France  was  over- 
thrown by  a  few  hundred  men  in  Paris.  The  empu'e, 
in  an  appeal  to  universal  suffrage,  iu  every  city  and  vil- 
lage in  France,  in  the  army,  in  the  navy,  and  in  Algiers, 
had  been  established  by  a  vote  of  nearly  eight  millions. 
There  were  but  about  three  hundred  thousand  in  the 
negative.  The  republic  was  established  by  the  demo- 
cratic portion  of  the  populace  in  Paris.  The  opponents 
were  overawed,  and  dared  not  express  an  opinion. 
Outside  of  the  walls  of  Paris,  there  were  thirty-eight 
millions  of  French  people.  Their  voice  was  not  listened 
to  at  all.  The  ecclesiastics,  almost  without  an  excep- 
tion, were  in  favor  of  the  empire.  The  peasantry 
composing  the  millions  of  the  rural  districts  were  sup- 
porters of  the  empire  with  scarcely  a  dissenting  voice. 

The  democratic  party  in  the  leading  cities  —  Lyons, 
Marseilles,  &c.  —  followed  the  lead  of  the  democrats  in 
Paris  in  renouncing  the  empire  and  in  proclaiming  a 
republic  ;   but  they  refused  to  give   in  their  adhesion 


252  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

to  the  self-constituted  provisional  government  in  Paris, 
and  established  governments  of  their  own.  Thus  im- 
mediately there  sprang  up  four  distinct  governments  in 
France,  each  claiming  to  be  "  the  French  republic." 
First,  there  was  the  self-constituted  "  committee  of 
national  defence  "  in  Paris.  The  second  was  a  sort  of 
delegated  government  in  Tours.  The  third  was  a  com- 
mittee of  public  safety  at  Marseilles,  under  the  dictator 
Alphose  Esquhos.  The  fourth  was  the  red  republican 
committee  at  Lyons.  And  there  was  still  another  at- 
tempt to  grasp  the  reins  of  power  by  the  democrats  of 
Grenoble. 

During  the  progress  of  the  French  revolution  of  1789, 
the  people  of  France  were  divided  in  opinion  respecting 
the  best  form  of  government  to  be  adopted.  The  aris- 
tocracy, and  all  under  their  control,  demanded  the  old 
monarchy.  They  were  sustained  by  wealth,  by  the 
immense  influence  of  ancestral  rank,  and  by  all  the 
coui-ts  and  nobles  of  Europe.  On  the  other  hand  were 
the  repubhcans,  mainly  composed  of  the  energetic 
populace  of  the  cities  and  the  more  intelligent  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  rural  districts.  In  some  portions 
of  France,  nearly  all  the  peasantry  were  in  favor  of  the 
old  monarchy.  Never  was  there  a  more  dreadful  war 
waged  on  earth  than  that  between  the  French  monarchists 
and  republicans  in  La  Vendee. 

The  empire  was  an  attempt  at  a  compromise  between 
the  old  regime  and  the  modern  republic.  It  maintained 
monarchical  forms ;  while  it  rejected  all  aristocratic 
privilege,  rearing  the  whole  fabric  of  the  government 
upon  the  principle  of  equal  rights  for  all  men.  It 
rejected  the  principle  of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  and 
proclaimed  the  divine  right  of  the  people.     The  re-estab- 


THE  OVERTHROW   OF  THE   EMPIRE.  253 

lished  empire  wliich  the  democratic  party  in  the  great 
cities  was  now  endeavoring  to  overthrow  had  been 
adopted  by  the  voice  of  universal  suffrage.  Every  man 
in  France,  who  was  not  a  felon  or  a  pauper,  voted.  The 
historic  facts,  beyond  all  dispute,  were  as  follows :  — 

In  1848,  the  French  people  overthrew  the  monarchical 
throne  of  Louis  Philippe,  established  a  republic,  and 
chose  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  president  by  5,562,834 
votes.  The  fairness  of  the  vote  cannot  be  questioned, 
since  the  polls  were  in  the  hands  of  Gen.  Cavaignac,  a 
rival  candidate,  who  was  then  dictator. 

A  conspiracy  was  formed  by  the  leaders  of  the  Legiti- 
mist, Orleans,  and  Jacobin  parties,  to  overthrow  this 
repubhc.  The  monarchists  deemed  it  too  democratic 
in  its  character,  and  the  red  repubUcans  deemed  it  not 
democratic  enough.  Thus  the  monarchist  Thiers  and 
the  radical  Louis  Blanc  clasped  hands  for  its  overthrow. 
Each  hoped  upon  its  ruins  to  rear  his  own  favorite 
governmental  fabric.^ 

By  the  coup  d'etat,  on  the  morning  of  Dec.  2, 
1851,  the  president  thwarted  this  conspiracy,  and  res- 
cued the  repubUc  from  the-  destruction  with  which  it 
was  menaced.  An  immediate  appeal  to  universal  suf- 
frage, on  the  20th  of  December,  sustained  the  president 
in  the  coup  d'etat.  Thus  France  made  the  act  her 
own,  and  rewarded  Napoleon  by  re-electing  him  presi- 
dent of  the  republic,  wliich  he  had  saved,  for  an  ad- 
ditional period  of  ten  years.  The  vote  was  taken 
throughout  the  eighty- six  departments  of  France. 
There  were  7,439,216  votes  in  favor  of  the  president, 
and  but  640,737  against  him. 

*  See  Alison's  Historj'  of  Europe,  vol.  vii.  p.  535. 


254  HISTORY   OF   PRUSSIA. 

And  now  the  people  of  France  resolved  to  re-establish 
the  emph'e,  —  the  old  republican  empire  of  Napoleon  I. 
Petitions  were  sent  in  from  all  parts  signed  by  millions. 
"  It  became  every  day  more  evident  that  Paris,  all 
entire,  associated  itself  heart  and  soul  in  the  wish  uni- 
versally and  spontaneously  uttered  by  the  departments. 
From  all  parts  of  the  territory,  addresses  soliciting  this 
change,  covered  by  thousands  of  signatures,  flooded  the 
Senate,  which  alone,  in  accordance  with  the  constitution, 
could  effect  amendments  of  this  nature.  Thus  it  was 
the  totality  of  France  which  demanded  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  empire."  ^ 

The  polls,  to  decide  upon  the  question  whether  the 
empire  should  be  re-established,  were  opened  on  the 
21st  and  22d  of  November,  1852.  This  was  eleven 
months  after  the  coup  d'etat^  by  which  the  president 
had  saved  the  republic.  There  were  7,864,180  votes 
in  favor  of  the  empire,  and  but  253,145  cast  against 
it. 

Thus  the  empire  was  re-established  with  a  degree  of 
unanimity  quite  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  nations.'^ 
It  is  said  that  Napoleon,  having  taken  an  oath  to  be  true 
to  the  republic,  could  not,  under  these  changed  circum- 
stances, lend  liis  aid  to  the  establishment  of  the  empire 

1  MM.  Gallix  et  Guy,  p.  594. 

^  It  is  generally  estimated,  that,  where  suffrage  is  universal  with  all  males 
over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  there  is  one  voter  to  about  five  of  the  population. 
The  empire  was  established  by  a  vote  of  7,864,180.  This  represents  a  population 
of  39,320,900.  Surely  such  unanimity  was  never  before  manifested  in  the 
establishment  of  a  government.  For  twenty  years,  this  government  confeiTed 
upon  France  prosperity  never  enjoyed  before,  and  was  repeatedly  sanctioned  by 
the  votes  of  the  people.  The  opposition  was  confined  to  the  great  cities.  It  is 
easy  to  say  that  the  vote  was  fraudulent  ;  but  the  cordial  support  of  the 
empire  for  twenty  years  proves  that  it  was  in  harmony  with  the  popular  senti- 
ment. 


THE   OVERTHROW   OF   THE   EafPIRE.  255 

without  peijuiy.      Such  is   Senator  Sumner's  opinion. 
He  says,  — 

"  Promise,  pledge,  honor,  oath,  were  all  violated  in 
this  monster  treason.  Never  in  history  was  greater 
turpitude.  As  I  am  a  repubhcan,  and  believe  in  repub- 
lican institutions,  I  cannot  forgive  the  traitor."  ^ 

The  re-establishment  of  the  emph-e  made  but  a  slight 
change  in  the  republican  constitution,  which  still  re- 
mained in  force.  The  government  consisted  of  the  su- 
preme executive  called  Emperor,  his  Ministers,  a  Coun- 
cil of  State,  a  Senate,  and  a  House  of  Representatives 
called  the  Corps  Legislatif. 

The  emperor,  chosen  by  universal  sufli-age,  transmit- 
ted his  crown  to  his  natural  heirs.  He  appointed  his 
ministers. 

The  Senate  was  composed  of  the  cardinals,  the  mar- 
shals, and  the  admirals  of  France,  with  enough  others, 
appointed  by  the  crown  from  citizens  most  distinguished 
for  their  services,  to  bring  the  number  up  to  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty.  The  senators  held  their  seats  for  life. 
After  being  appointed,  tliey  were  entirely  independent 
of  the  crown. 

The  members  of  the  Corps  Ldgislatif  were  chosen  by 
the  people ;  one  deputy  for  every  thirty-five  thousand 
electors.  Every  Frenchman  over  twenty-one  years  of 
age  was  a  voter ;  and  the  deputies  were  chosen  for  a  term 
of  six  years. 

The  councillors  of  state  were  from  forty  to  fifty  in 
numl)cr,  were  appointed  by  the  emperor,  and  were  re- 
movable by  him.  No  law  could  be  estabhshed,  or  tax 
hnposed,  without  receiving  the  sanction  of  tlie  Council 

'  Senator  Suniiior  on  tlie  war,  —  New-York  IlcralJ,  Oct.  29,  1870. 


256  HISTORY   OP   PRUSSIA. 

of  State,  tlie  Senate,  the  Legislative  Corps,  and  the  sig- 
nature of  the  emperor.  The  executive,  legislative,  and 
judicial  functions  were  clearly  defined,  and  carefully 
separated.  This  constitution  could  at  any  time  he 
amended  by  the  votes  of  the  people,  without  rendering 
it  necessary  to  resort  to  revolutionary  violence. 

While  this  constitution  was  less  popular  in  its  pro- 
visions than  that  of  the  United  States,  it  was  an  im- 
mense advance  from  the  spirit  of  the  old  Bourbon  re- 
gimes^ and  was  decidedly  more  repubhcan  in  its  charac- 
ter than  the  constitution  of  Great  Britain. 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  government  which  the  demo- 
cratic leaders  in  the  great  cities,  in  the  midst  of  the 
terrible  disasters  by  which  France  was  overwhelmed, 
had  overthrown,  and  replaced  by  several  self-constituted 
committees  of  public  safety.^ 

Gen.  Dix,  who  was  for  several  years  the  American 
ambassador  to  the  French  Empire,  in  his  parting  speech 
to  the  American  residents  in  Paris  said,  — 

"  It  speaks  strongly  in  favor  of  the  illustrious  sove- 
reign who  for  the  last  twenty  years  has  held  the  desti- 
nies of  France  in  his  hands,  that  the  condition  of  the 
people,  materially  and  intellectually,  has  been  constantly 
improving;   and  that  the  aggregate   prosperity  of  the 

1  "  It  was  not  from  the  necessity  of  circumstances  that  France  chose  Loi'  \i 
Napoleon.  It  was  because  France  preferred  him  above  all  others,  without  ex- 
ception. It  is  because  he  is  the  only  man  truly  popular ;  the  only  name  to  which 
attach  souvenirs  of  grand  achievements  accompUshed  for  the  country.  What 
can  any  one  say  respecting  the  achievements  of  our  legitimate  kings?  Who, 
in  cottage  or  shop,  knows  anything  of  them?  Nobody.  But  all  the  world 
knows  of  the  man  who  raised  France  to  grandeur  unheard  of  before;  who  sub- 
dued anarchy,  and  brought  Europe  to  our  feet  ;  the  man  who  knew  how  to 
recompense  services  rendered,  and  to  discover  merit  wherever  it  existed;  the 
man  who  took  the  son  of  the  citizen  to  make  him  a  marshal,  and  the  son  of  a 
workman  to  make  him  a  king."  — MM.  Gallix  ei  Guy,  p.  9. 


THE    OVERTHROW    OF   TFTE    EMPIRE.  2r>7 

country  is  greater,  perhaps,  at  the  present  moment,  than 
at  any  former  period. 

"  As  you  know,  debates  in  the  Corps  LdgisUitif,  on 
questions  of  public  policy,  are  unrestricted.  They  are 
reported  with  great  accuracy,  and  promptly  published  in 
the  official  journal  and  other  newspaper  presses.  Thus 
the  people  of  France  are  constantly  advised  of  all  that 
is  said  for  or  against  the  administrative  measures  which 
concern  their  interests.  In  liberal  views,  in  that  com- 
prehensive forecast  which  shapes  the  policy  of  the  present 
to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  future,  the  emperor  seems 
to  me  decidedly  in  advance  of  his  ministers,  and  even 
of  the  popular  body  chosen  by  universal  suffrage  to  aid 
him  in  his  legislative  labors." 

Bismarck  scornfully  called  the  new  governments  which 
had  usurped  the  place  of  the  empire  the  "  gutter  democ- 
rac}^"  and  refused  to  recognize  them.  M.  Thiers,  the 
Orlcanist,  would  not  acknowledge  their  authority,  though 
terril)ly  embarrassed  in  consequence  in  his  endeavors  to 
obtain  a  treaty  of  peace.  The  monarchies  of  Continental 
Em'ope,  almost  with  one  accord,  refused  to  recognize 
any  of  these  govemmeyits^  which  were  founded  neither 
upon  legitimacy  nor  upon  popular  suffrage. 

For  twenty  years  the  empire  had  been  the  acknowl- 
edged government  of  France,  recognized  by  all  the 
nations  of  Europe  and  America.  Nearly  every  civil, 
ecclesiastical,  and  military  office  was  in  the  hands  of  tlie 
fiiends  of  the  empire.  The  marshals  and  generals  and 
tlie  rank  and  file  of  the  army  were,  with  scarcely  an 
exception,  ardent  imperialists.  Fearful  as  was  the  press- 
ure upon  them  to  drive  back  that  Germanic  invasion 
which  was  perilling  the  very  life  of  France,  their  ener- 
gies were  in  a  degree  paralyzed  by  the  rebellion  against 
17 


258  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

the  government  which  had  so  suddenly  sprung  up  in  the 
great  cities.  Mar^lial  Bazaine,  at  Metz,  scornfully  refused 
any  recognition  of  the  self-constituted  committee  in  Paris, 
—  a  committee  CL*-operating  with  the  Prussian  armies  in 
overthrowing  the  established  government.  But  for  the 
presence  of  neaJy  a  million  of  armed  Prussians  in 
France,  the  empire  would  have  remained  firm. 

The  democratic  leaders  in  Europe  are  generally  infi- 
dels, bitter  foes  of  the  Church.  The  peasantry,  almost 
to  a  man,  were  friends  of  the  empire,  which  respected 
their  religion.  I'he  priesthood  had  immense  influence 
in  all  the  rural  districts  ;  and  the  whole  priesthood,  as  a 
body,  were  opposed  to  the  democracy.  Thus,  when  Favre 
and  Rochefort  chilled  upon  France  to  rise  en  masse  to 
repel  the  invaders,  there  was  no  cordial  response.  The 
priests  and  the  peasants  scarcely  knew  which  to  dread 
the  most,  —  the  Prussians,  or  the  democrats  ;  and  when 
Garibaldi,  who,  by  his  assaults  upon  the  Church,  had  ren- 
dered liimself  extremely  obnoxious  to  all  the  Catholic 
priesthood,  hastened  to  the  aid  of  the  democratic  gov- 
ernment in  France,  thousands  of  the  Catholic  soldiers 
refused  to  serve  under  such  a  leader. 

Thus  France  was  apparently  doomed  to  destruction. 
With  no  acknowledged  government,  with  democrats  re- 
viling imperiahsts  in  the  most  unmeasured  terms  of 
abuse,  and  impeiialists  treating  the  democrats  as  the 
enemies  of  religif  n  and  order,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  empire  was  overrun  by  as  terrible  an  invasion  as  ever 
afflicted  a  people,  and  with  but  few  words  reaching 
French  ears  from  England  or  America  but  words  of 
scorn,  the  cup  of  misery  the  nation  was  doomed  to  dizain 
seemed  to  be  full  to  the  brim.  There  was  a  latent  Or- 
leans element  in  the  community,  which  did  not  develop 
itself  in  these  disastrous  hours. 


TIIK    OVERTHROW   OF   THE   EMPIRE.  259 

Bismarck  seemed  appalled.  He  had  expected  that  the 
overthrow  of  the  republican  empire  would  re-introduce 
tlic  old  monarchy  under  a  Bourbon  or  an  Orleans  king-. 
Instead  of  this,  the  democrats  leaped  upon  the  vacant 
throne,  and  grasped  the  sceptre.  Bismarck,  in  conster- 
nation, would  gladly  have  wrenched  the  sceptre  fiom 
them,  and  restored  it  to  the  emperor.  Democracy  he 
feared  above  all  things  else. 

"  A  republic,"  says  Mr.  Headley,  "  stares  him  in  the 
face.  He  knows,  from  the  effect  of  the  last  French 
repuljlic  on  Germany,  that  another  one  established  to- 
day will  threaten  the  stability  of  his  government  more 
than  Strasburg  or  Metz  ever  did  or  can  ;  that  a  repub- 
lic surging  up  to  the  borders  of  Germany  is  a  more  fear- 
ful menace  than  a  hundred  thousand  French  troops 
stationed  along  the  Rhine.  This  very  fact  may  furnish 
the  key  to  his  conduct  in  insisting  on  the  overthrow  of 
Paris.  He  knows  that  Paris  is  not  France  ;  and  though 
the  city  may  vote  for  a  republic,  the  entire  country  has 
just  cast  an  overwlielming  vote  in  favor  of  an  empire. 

"  Therefore,  could  he  once  occupy  the  capital,  —  so  that, 
on  the  one  hand,  it  could  not  overawe  the  provinces,  and, 
on  the  other,  give  free  scope  to  the  monarchists  to  elec- 
tioneer among  the  people,  —  a  similar  result  would  follow, 
and  thus  France  become  an  empire.  With  this  he  could 
accomplish  a  double  object, — secure  Europe  from  the 
dreaded  effect  of  a  vast  republic  rising  in  its  midst,  and 
obtain  also  such  a  frontier  as  he  desires.  Such  a  plan 
would  be  worthy  of  this  prince  of  diplomatists." 


CHAPTER   XXII. 


THE   PRISONER    AND    THE    EXILE. 

EVER  was  the  adage  respecting  one  going 
down  hill  more  strikingly  verified  than  in 
the  case  of  the  emperor  in  his  honrs  of  mis- 
fortune. Even  his  buried  mother  Hortense 
and  the  Empress  Eugenie  had  to  take  their 
share  of  the  merciless  vituperation.  They 
were  held  up  to  the  scorn  of  the  world  as 
women  whose  very  touch  was  pollution.  It  was  feared 
by  the  foes  of  the  empire  that  popular  suffrage  might 
re-estabhsh  the  imperial  throne.  Resort  was  therefore 
had  to  all  the  poisoned  weapons  of  calumny  to  prevent 
this  result.  Accusations  were  fabricated,  and  docu- 
ments, letters,  and  private  papers,  forged  to  prove  that 
the  Palace  of  the  Tuileries,  where  for  twenty  years  the 
most  pure  and  illustrious  of  the  gentlemen  and  ladies  of 
England  and  America  had  found  hospitable  welcome, 
had  been  but  a  warehouse  of  infamy,  seething  with 
pollutions  scarcely  equalled  by  those  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah.  Must  it  be  forever  so  that  political  antago- 
nism shall  extinguish  every  sentiment  of  magnanimity 
and  honor  ? 

Probably  never   before   in  the   history  of  the  world 
was  a  man  assailed  so  fiercely  and  unscrupulously  as  was 

260 


THE   PRISONER   AND  THE   EXILE.  261 

tlie  Emperor  of  the  French  in  his  hours  of  misfortune. 
A  writer  in  "  The  London  Sunday  Times  "  of  Aug.  14 
raised  a  feeble  voice  of  remonstrance. 

"  I  feel  constrained,"  he  wrote,  "  to  lift  up  my  voice 
in  humble  but  earnest  protest  against  the  splenetic, 
malevolent,  and  contemptuous  tone  adopted  by  too  many 
of  your  contemporaries  in  their  allusions  to  the  present 
monarch  of  the  great  French  nation. 

"  Even  had  the  emperor  no  claim  whatever  on  the  es- 
teem and  courtesy  of  Englishmen,  there  would  still  be 
spmetliing  exceedingly  repulsive  and  ignoble  in  the  zest 
with  wliich  the  writers  referred  to  have  seized  upon  the 
moment  of  his  supreme  anxiety  to  heap  upon  him  abuse 
which  could  only  be  merited  by  a  monster  in  whom  the 
knave  and  the  fool  were  equally  dominant. 

"  The  culmination  of  adversity  should  at  least  impose 
some  restraint  upon  scorn  and  resentment,  even  though 
it  fail  to  awaken  compassion  and  sympathy.  The  Em- 
peror of  the  French  may  have  been  at  fault  in  permit- 
ting his  ministers  to  hurry  him  into  a  causeless  and  awful 
war.  It  is  not  of  legitimate  comment  and  criticism  that 
I  now  venture  to  complain.  I  protest  against  violent, 
scornful,  unjust,  and  vulgar  abuse  ;  against  irritating 
sneers  and  vindictive  insolence  ;  against  lying  vitupera- 
tion and  swaggering  impertinence.  Let  it  not  be  said 
that  I  exaggerate." 

After  quoting  sundry  of  these  assaults  from  "  The 
Daily  News,"  "  The  Pail-Mall  Gazette,"  and  "  The  Lon- 
don Times,"  which  abundantly  sustained  his  statement, 
he  continues :  — 

"  Now,  of  whom  is  all  this  written  ?  Of  a  man,  who, 
during  the  whole  period  of  his  ascendency,  has  been  the 
self-sacrificing  friend  and  the  faithful  ally  of  this  coun- 


262  HISTORY    OF   PRUSSIA. 

try.  For  years  after  he  assumed  the  chief  direction  of 
affairs  in  France,  he  was  treated  every  day  and  every 
week,  by  nearly  the  whole  Enghsh  press,  to  foul  and 
scornfid  reprobation;  yet,  under  provocations  which 
would  have  goaded  almost  anybody  else  to  madness, 
he  sustained  those  onslaughts  with  marvellous  patience. 
He  never  once  resented  them. 

"  In  great  enterprises  he  has  co-operated  with  us,  main- 
taining a  candor,  a  courtesy,  a  consideration,  and  delicacy 
of  respect,  which  all  who  have  had  directly  to  deal  with 
him  have  gratefully  acknowledged.  In  evil  report  and 
in  good  report,  he  has  been  fast  and  frank  in  his  friend- 
sliip  with  England.  We  owe  vast  expansions  of  our 
trade  to  his  sagacity  in  framing  and  instituting  the  com- 
mercial treaty. 

"  Say  what  we  will,  under  his  auspices  the  material  in- 
terests of  France  have  undergone  a  marvellous  develop- 
ment. The  prosperity  has  been  accompanied  by  some 
of  the  higher  forms  of  popular  progress.  Have  we  any 
reasons  for  hunting  down  a  monarch  who  never  did  us 
harm,  and  who  has  estabhshed  the  most  venerable  claims 
on  our  respect  and  gratitude  ?  " 

On  the  18th  of  October,  an  English  gentleman  had 
an  interview  with  the  emperor  at  Wilhelmshohe.  In  a 
communication  he  made  to  "  The  London  Telegraph," 
he  writes,  — 

"  Napoleon  III.  was  seated  before  a  desk  encumbered 
with  documents,  books,  and  newspapers.  The  apart- 
ment he  uses  as  a  study  is  a  small  square  room  not  un- 
like the  cabinet  he  used  at  the  Tuileries.  The  emperor 
looked  in  every  respect  as  well  as  when  I  last  saw  him 
it  St.  Cloud  in  July  last.  I  reminded  him  that  he  had 
then  spoken  to  me  of  the  HohenzoUern  incident,  which 
he  had  regarded  as  finished. 


TnE  PRISONER  AND   THE   EXILE.  2G3 

"  '  Yes,'  said  the  emperor  with  a  sigh.  '  Lliomyne 
propose^  mais  Dleu  dispose.  I  had  no  wisli  to  make  war  ; 
but  fatality  willed  that  it- should  be  so.  Public  opinion 
was  aroused  in  its  favor  ;  and  I  was  obliged  to  acquiesce 
in  the  popular  wish./ 

"  The  emperor  confidently  relies  upon  the  verdict  of 
history  to  exonerate  liim  from  all  the  charges  heaped 
upon  his  head.  He  alluded,  but  without  bitterness,  to 
the  numberless  calumnies  of  which  he  is  the  object  in 
many  parts  of  France.  He  spoke  in  despondent  terms 
of  the  present  distracted  condition  of  France,  —  a  prey 
to  a  foreign  foe  without,  and  anarchy  within. 

"  When  I  ventured  to  ask  him  if  the  time  would  not 
soon  come  when  he  would  be  authorized  to  make  some 
movement  by  his  own  initiative  to  retrieve  his  fortunes, 
he  at  once  replied,  that  the  sole  aim  of  France  must  now 
be  to  drive  out  the  invader  of  her  soil  ;  and  he  would 
never,  by  word  or  deed,  throw  any  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  accomplishing  that  task."  ^ 

On  the  9th  of  November,  a  correspondent  of  "  The 
New- York  Herald "  was  favored  with  an  interview 
with  the  emperor  at  the  Castle  of  Wilhelmshohe.  Ho 
found  his  Majesty  perfectly  free  in  his  daily  movements, 
and  treated  with  profound  respect.  Traversing  a  num- 
ber of  stately  halls  and  apartments,  he  was  presented 
to  the  emperor  in  a  room  so  small,  that  a  writing-desk 
before  the  fire  took  up  nearly  the  whole  floor. 

In  the  course  of  the  conversation,  the  emperor  is  re- 
l)orted  to  have  expressed  the  following  sentiments  :  — 

"  All  must  admit  that  the  press  is  a  powerfid  institu- 
tion.     In  France  it  has  worked  much  good,  and  also 

'   London  Tclegnipli,  Octobor,  1870. 


'M4:  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

much  injury.  When  I  consented  to  its  being  freed 
entirely  from  censorship,  it  was  seized  by  demagogues 
and  unscrupulous  politicians,  who  openly  preached  dis- 
obedience to  the  laws  ;  and  they  were  but  too  successful 
in  perverting  the  minds  of  the  people. 

"  The  same  intelligience  does  not  prevail  in  France 
that  is  found  in  the  United  States.  The  seditious 
arguments  advanced  by  the  press,  when  in  the  hands 
of  pretended  reformers,  easily  inflamed  the  untutored 
minds  of  the  people. 

"  I  suppose  that  Americans  would  naturally  sym- 
pathize with  republican  institutions ;  but  all  the  con- 
ditions requisite  to  a  true  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment are  absolutely  wanting  in  France.  Those  who 
boldly  grasped  the  reins  of  power  have  already  dis- 
covered their  utter  inability  to  establish  such  a  govern- 
ment. That  for  which  they  blamed  me  most,  they  have 
been  compelled  to  do  themselves,  and  in  a  form  still 
more  obnoxious. 

"  The  restraint  imposed  upon  the  press,  for  instance, 
was  the  constant  theme  of  the  most  violent  attacks 
upon  my  government.  But  while  I  made  but  moderate 
use  of  this  law,  while  fines  and  punishments  were  rare, 
and  were  preceded  by  a  mild  system  of  avertissemeiits, 
they  have  suppressed  a  number  of  journals  because  they 
did  not  chime  in  with  their  fantastic  ideas  of  republican 
sentiments. 

"  The  republic  of  America  and  the  republic  of  France 
are  as  diferent  as  white  is  from  black.  Your  country 
submits  to  law.  Public  sentiment  and  public  spirit, 
based  upon  general  intelligence  and  morality,  dictate 
the  control  of  society.  In  New  York  and  Boston,  the 
theatres  are  allowed  to  perform  such  plays  as  they  deem 


THE   PEISONER  AND  THE  EXILE.  265 

fit.  Suppose  they  should  treat  the  pubUc  to  impure 
and  offensive  pieces :  tlie  press  woukl  denounce  them  ; 
nobody  woukl  go  to  see  them  ;  they  woukl  be  con- 
demned by  the  verdict  of  the  pubhc. 

"But,  in  France,  the  greater  the  departure  from  moral- 
ity and  decorum,  the  greater  will'  be  the  crowd  flocking 
to  delight  in  it.  It  is  no  easy  work  to  curb  such  an 
extravagant  and  depraved  spirit  in  a  country  so  often 
unhappily  shaken  by  revolution.  It  requires  the  utmost 
energy  to  build  up  any  tiling,  —  any  form  of  state  gov- 
ernment. 

"  I  know  the  American  people  to  be  a  frank-hearted, 
generous  nation ;  and  I  cannot  believe  they  approve  of 
the  slanderous  accusations  now  preferred  against  me. 
Have  you  read  the  vile  statement,  published  in  the 
'  Inddpendance  Beige  '  and  in  other  journals,  that  I 
had  appropriated  the  public  funds,  and  conjured  up  war 
to  conceal  such  illegal  transactions  ?  I  wish  to  state 
emphatically  that  such  a  breach  of  trust  under  my  gov- 
ernment in  France  is  an  utter  impossibility.  Not  a  sin- 
gle franc  is  expended  without  severe  checks  on  the 
part  of  the  administration.  This  fact  is  well  known  to 
every  intelligent  person  in  France.  I  could  hardly 
attempt  to  contradict  all  these  vile  calumnies,  though 
I  have  denied  a  few  of  them." 

In  reference  to  the  war  the  emperor  remarked,  "  We 
deceived  ourselves  as  to  the  strength  of  our  own  army 
as  well  as  that  of  the  Prussians.  I  have  often  cautioned 
my  ministers  against  erroneous  statements.  It  was 
proljaljly  no  fault  of  their  hearts,  but  of  their  heads, 
that  they  would  not  listen  to  me  when  I  told  them  that 
we  could  not  compete  with  Prussia's  military  establish- 
ment ;  that  our  effective  strength  as  compared  to  hers 


266  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

was  insufficient.  This  was  the  deception,  the  fault  of 
which  must  be  shared  more  or  less  by  all  of  us,  which 
has  led  to  the  most  disastrous  results.  We  were  to  have 
reaiy  for  service,  at  a  moment's  notice,  two  hundred 
thousand  reserves.  When  they  were  needed,  however, 
not  more  than  one-half  the  number  was  at  hand.  Tluis 
the  Prussians  got  '  ahead '  of  us,  as  you  would  say.  Not- 
withstanding all  this,  the  bravery  of  our  troops  obliged 
them  to  use  double  numbers  of  men  to  gain  easy  vic- 
tories. 

"  France  needs  peace ;  but  the  conditions  imposed  by 
Count  Bismarck  are  too  exacting.  What  government 
in  France  could  accept  them,  and  at  the  same  time 
maintain  itself  against  the  outraged  people  ?  France 
cannot  endure  so  deep  a  humiliation." 

"  Will  your  Majesty,"  the  correspondent  inquired, 
"  have  the  goodness  to  explain  why  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment so  obstinately  refuses  to  hold  an  election  for 
representatives  in  the  constituent  assembly  ?  " 

"  In  my  opinion,"  the  emperor  replied,  "  it  is  because 
it  is  afraid  of  the  reds." 

"  May  they  not,"  it  was  asked,  "  have  as  much  reason 
to  apprehend  that  a  large  number  of  Bonapartists  may 
be  returned  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  think  so,"  said  the  emperor.  "  The  dis- 
cordant elements  of  socialism,  communism,  and  an- 
archy, have,  spread  terror  throughout  the  country,  and 
gotten  the  upper  hand ;  and  it  is  very  difficult  to  con- 
tend with  such  Utopian  and  seductive  influences." 

In  reference  to  the  restoration  of  the  empire,  and  the 
recall  of  the  emperor  by  the  popular  voice.  Napoleon 
Baid,  — 

"  When  I  consider  the  uncertainty  lurking  on  the  road 


THE   PRISONER  AND  THE   EXILE.  267 

to  such  an  aim,  when  I  consider  the  vast  impediments 
to  be  removed,  I  really  feel  but  little  ambition.  I  would 
rather  be  independent.  I  would  rather  be  as  I  now 
am,  —  a  prisoner,  —  and  never  step  again  on  French 
soil." 

"But  with  regard  to  your  Majesty's  interest  as  a 
father,"  it  was  said,  "you  must  be  naturally  desirous  of 
bequeathing  your  throne  to  your  promising  son,  and 
thus  upholding  the  dynasty." 

"  No,"  the  emperor  replied  with  much  manifest  emo- 
tion :  "  not  even  for  him  could  I  wish  it.  I  love  him  too 
much  to  desire  for  him  chances  of  such  dread  uncer- 
tainty. If  these  cannot  be  avoided,  he  would  be  far 
happier  in  private  life,  without  the  overwhelming  respon- 
sibilities attaching  to  such  a  station,  and  that,  too,  in 
France,  which  can  never  forget  a  humiliation." 

Some  journals  have  expressed  doubts  respecting  the 
authenticity  of  the  above  narrative ;  but  the  senti- 
ments expressed  are  in  manifest  accord  with  every  re- 
port which  has  come  from  the  prisoner  of  Wilhelm- 
shohe. 

The  testimony  in  reference  to  the  sentiments  and 
conduct  of  the  Empress  Eugenie,  from  all  those  who 
were  favored  with  an  interview,  is  uniformly  the  same. 
She  had  found  a  retreat  at  Chiselhurst,  in  the  county  of 
Kent,  England,  a  small,  rambling  village,  about  half  an 
hour's  ride,  on  the  railway,  from  Charing  Cross.  She, 
with  her  suite,  occupied  Camden  House,  a  three-story 
mansion  of  red  and  yellow  brick,  with  a  park  and  pretty 
ornamental  grounds.  A  lady,  writing  from  London  to 
"  The  New-York  World  "  under  date  of  Oct.  18,  1870, 
gives  the  following  account  of  an  interview  :  — 

"  I  have  heard  nuich  of  the  beauty  and  grace  of  the 


268  HISTOEY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

empress  j  but  I  was  not  prepared  to  see  a  person  of 
such  exquisite  loveliness. 

"  While  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  repeat  the  words 
which  the  empress  uttered,  either  to  myself  or  to 
others  in  my  hearing,  I  may  express  the  conviction  with 
which  I  left  her  presence.  She  loves  France,  and  is 
anxious  for  its  welfare,  —  more  anxious  for  that  than 
for  the  restoration  of  the  empire  and  perpetuity  of  the 
Napoleonic  dynasty.  She  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
intrigues  that  are  going  on  here,  or  in  Jersey,  or  at 
Mons,  or  at  Wilhelmshohe.  She  sees  that  the  salvation 
of  France  depends  upon  the  maintenance  of  the  pro- 
visional government,  now  established  there,  until  the 
enemy  has  been  driven  from  its  borders  ;  and  it  is  for 
this  that  she  hopes,  for  tliis  she  works,  and  for  this  she 
prays  daily,  if  not  hourly ;  being  oftener  on  her  knees 
than  on  her  feet,  asking  the  intercession  of  our  Blessed 
Lady  for  the  land  which  is  so  rich  in  faith,  as  well  as  so 
sadly  stained  with  unbelief. 

"  That  the  great  majority  of  the  French  people  still 
look  upon  her  husband  as  their  lawful  ruler,  chosen  by 
them  in  the  first  place,  and  confirmed  in  his  authority 
by  their  repeated  votes,  she  believes  :  that  they  will  ask 
him  to  return  to  them,  or  that,  at  least,  they  will  de- 
mand the  restoration  of  his  dynasty,  she  considers  prob- 
able. But  that  is  not  the  question  now.  The  question 
now  is,  '  How  to  save  France  from  being  conquered 
and  crushed  by  Germany ; '  and  he  is  her  friend  who 
aids  in  that  work,  be  he  republican  or  imperialist. 

"  When  peace  is  restored,  and  the  country  is  once 
more  free  to  choose  its  form  of  government,  it  will  be 
time  then  to  decide  whether  it  will  elect  to  recall  a 
ruler  under  whom  a  score   of  years  of  uninterrupted 


THE  PRISONER   AND  THE   EXILE.  269 

prosperity  and  peace  were  enjoyed,  or  to  continue  in 
power  a  party  who  drove  that  ruler  into  a  war  for  which 
he  was  wholly  unprepared,  and  which  he  was  wholly 
unwilling  to  undertake.  It  was  liberal  France  that 
made  the  war  unavoidable  ;  it  was  imperial  France  that 
desired  peace,  and  dreaded  war:  but  it  remains  for  the 
future  to  show  whether  Franco  is  still,  at  heart,  impe- 
rialistic, or  republican.  The  empire  was  cstabhshcd  by 
the  votes  of  the  peox)le,  and  confirmed  by  their  voices 
over  and  over  again.  The  people  have  not  expressed 
any  wish  for  the  substitution  of  a  republic  for  the  em- 
pire :  should  they  do  so,  the  empress  will  not  be  found 
plotting  against  them." 

Gen.  Dix,  in  his  address  to  the  Americans  in  Paris 
upon  his  retirement  from  his  embassy  to  the  court  of 
the  Tuileries,  paid  the  following  just  and  beautiful  trib- 
ute to  the  character  of  Eugenie  :  — 

"  Of  her  who  is  the  sharer  of  the  emperor's  honors, 
and  the  companion  of  his  toils  ;  who  in  the  hospital,  at 
the  altar,  or  on  the  throne,  is  alike  exemplary  in  the  dis- 
charge of  her  varied  duties,  whether  incident  to  her  po- 
sition, or  voluntarily  taken  upon  herself,  —  it  is  difficult 
for  me  to  speak  without  rising  above  the  level  of  tlie 
common  language  of  eulogium.  But  I  am  standing  here 
to-day  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  without  official 
relations  to  my  own  government  or  any  other.  I  have 
taken  my  leave  of  the  imperial  family ;  and  I  know  of 
no  reason  why  I  may  not  freely  speak  what  I  honestly 
think,  especially  as  I  know  I  can  say  nothing  which  will 
not  find  a  cordial  response  in  your  breasts. 

"As,  in  the  history  of  the  ruder  sex,  groat  luminaries 
have  from  time  to  time  risen  high  above  the  horizon, 
to  break,  and  at  the  same  time  to  illustrate,  the  monot- 


270  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

ony  of  tlie  general  movement;  so,  in  the  annals  of 
her  sex,  brilliant  lights  have  at  intervals  shone  forth,  and 
shed  their  lustre  upon  the  stately  march  of  regal  pomp 
and  power. 

"And  such  is  she  of  whom  I  am  speaking.  When  I 
have  seen  her  taking  part  in  the  most  imposing,  as  I 
think,  of  all  imperial  pageants,  —  the  opening  of  the 
Legislative  Chambers,  —  standing  amidst  the  assembled 
magistracy  of  Paris,  surrounded  by  the  representatives 
of  the  talent,  the  genius,  the  learning,  the  literature, 
and  the  piety  of  this  great  empire,  or  amidst  the  re- 
splendent scenes  of  the  palace,  moving  about  with  a 
gracefulness  all  her  own,  and  with  a  simplicity  of  man- 
ner which  has  a  double  charm  when  alhed  to  exalted 
rank  and  station,  I  confess  tliat  I  have  more  than  once 
whispered  to  myself,  and  I  believe  not  -always  inaudibly, 
that  beautiful  verse  of  the  graceful  and  courtly  Claudian, 
the  last  of  the  Roman  poets,  — 

'  Divino  servitu  gressu  claruit ; ' 

or,  rendered  in  our  own  plain  English,  '  The  very  path 
Bhe  treads  is  radiant  with  her  unrivalled  step.'  " 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

WAJl    AND    ITS    WOES. 

^^ 

/HE  capture  of  the  array  at  Sedan,  witli  the 
emperor,  was  an  irreparable  disaster  to 
France.  There  was  no  longer  any  force 
in  the  field  to  resist  the  invaders ;  there 
was  no  longer  any  government  which  France 
would  recognize.  It  was  no  longer  possible 
for  neighboring  dynasties,  despising  democ- 
racy, to  enter  into  alliance  to  aid  France,  since  such  aid 
would  strengthen  that  democracy  which  the  dynasties 
feared  far  more,  even,  than  they  feared  Germanic  su- 
premacy in  Europe.  Victorious  Prussia  was  also  deeply 
embarrassed.  She  had  overthrown  the  republican  empire, 
with  its  respect  for  monarchical  forms,  only  to  introduce 
tlie  genuine  democracy  of  Favre  and  Hugo  and  Roche- 
fort,  which  prided  itself  in  trampling  all  monarchical 
forms  under  its  feet.  Thus  was  Prussia  inspired  with  a 
new  incentive  to  reject  all  terms  of  peace  but  those 
which  would  re-establish  monarchy  in  some  of  its  forms 
in  France,  or  which  would  so  degrade  and  weaken  the 
nation,  that  Europe  would  have  nothing  to  fear  from  a 
dishonored  and  powerless  democracy. 

Never  before  in  tlie  history  of  the  world  was  tliero 
so    sudden   and   awful   a   collapse   of  a   great   nation. 

271 


272  HISTORY  OF  pnussiA. 

France  seemed  ruined  beyond  all  hope  of  redemp- 
tion. 

Catholic  France  could  not  rally  with  enthusiasm  to 
fight  the  battles  of  an  infidel  democracy.  For  such 
a  cause  the  priests  could  not  pray ;  for  such  a  cause,  the 
peasants,  who  reflected  the  opinions  of  the  Catholic 
clergy,  reluctantly  advanced  to  meet  the  foe. 

Imperial  France,  which  embraced  nearly  the  whole 
rural  population,  and  all  the  civil,  ecclesiastical,  and 
military  officers,  maddened  by  the  overthrow  of  the 
government  by  city  mobs  in  the  hour  of  the  most  dire 
extremity  of  the  nation,  was  paralyzed  in  all  her  ener- 
gies.^ 

The  military  leaders  refused  to  recognize  any  authority 
but  that  of  the  empire  ;  and  every  vestige  of  the  empire 
the  democratic  populace  had  swept  from  Paris.  The 
men  who  had  thus  grasped  the  reins  of  power  had  but 
little  confidence  in  the  generals  who  were  in  open  an- 
tagonism to  them ;  and  they  accused  these  generals  of 
lukewarmness,  and  even  treason. 

Thus  clouds  and  darkness  enveloped  France.  From 
no  quarter  could  a  ray  of  light  be  seen.  The  condition 
of  Marshal  Bazaine  was  hopeless.  The  army  of  Prince 
Charles  and  of  the  Crown  Prince  united  in  surrounding 
him.  In  the  mean  time,  the  siege  of  Strasburg  was  prose- 
cuted with  great  vigor ;  while  powerful  Prussian  armies 
marched  in  all  directions,  capturing  towns,  levying 
cuntributions,  and  gathering  up  ample  supplies.     What 

»  "  If  Napoleon  were  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  French  people,  France,  mean- 
while, seeing  in  the  republic  nothing  but  disorder,  is  it  impossible  that  the  peas- 
ants, who  are  Bonapartists  almost  to  a  man,  would  vote  for  the  restoration  of  the 
empire  V  All  our  reliable  news  from  the  interior  of  France  reveals  the  fact,  that 
the  peasants  are  not  republicans.  We  regret  this  fact,  while  we  are  compelled 
to  confess  it."  — New-Ym-k  Herald.  Oct.  1,  1870. 


WAR  AND   ITS  WOES.  273 

a  condition  for  proud  France  to  be  in !  TIio  despatches 
of  the  King  of  Prussia  indicate  his  astonishment  in 
view  of  the  marvellous  results  so  suddenly  accom- 
phshed. 

After  an  heroic  resistance  of  two  months,  Strasburg 
capitulated  on  the  28th  of  Sej)teraber.  The  terrific  bom- 
bardment commenced  on  the  15th  of  August.  The 
besiegers  had  four  hundred  heavy  guns  and  mortars, 
with  which  they  threw  an  incessant  storm  of  shot  and 
shell  into  the  city  night  and  day.  It  was  the  object 
of  the  bombardment  to  inflict  such  misery  upon  the 
inhabitants,  that  the  soldiers  in  the  citadel  would  be 
compelled,  from  humane  considerations,  to  surrender. 

The  sufferings  in  the  city  were  awful  beyond  all 
description.  The  bursting-forth  of  conflagrations,  the 
explosion  of  shells,  the  crash  of  falling  walls,  the  shrieks 
of  the  wounded ;  famine,  sickness,  misery,  —  all  combined 
in  converting  wretched  StrasJ3urg  into  a  volcanic  pande- 
monium. There  was  no  safety  anywhere.  Children 
were  torn  to  pieces  in  the  streets,  and  their  gory  limbs 
scattered  far  and  wide  over  the  pavements.  Shells 
crushed  through  the  roofs,  and  exploded  in  the  cellars 
where  mothers  and  maidens  were  huddled  together  in 
terror.  One  shell  fell  in  the  third  story  of  a  house, 
and  killed  twelve  persons  outright,  wounding  twelve 
more. 

Gen.  Ulrich,  who  was  intrusted  with  the  defence,  was 
compelled  to  steel  his  heart  against  these  cries  of  woe. 
His  defence  was  heroic  in  the  highest  degree.  Four 
hundred  citizens  —  men,  women,  and  children  —  were 
killed  ;  seventeen  hundred  were  wounded.  Four  hun- 
dred houses  were  burned,  rendering  eight  thousand 
persons   houseless.     Three   hundred    children   died   of 

18 


274  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

starvation.     Damage  was  inflicted  upon  the  city  to  the 
estimated  amount  of  fifty  million  dollars.^ 

The  surrender  of  Strasburg  with  its  vast  mihtary 
stores  released  the  besieging  army  of  over  fifty  thousand 
men  to  co-operate  in  the  siege  of  Metz  and  in  the  march 
upon  Paris.  A  garrison  of  eight  thousand  Germans  was 
left  to  hold  Strasburg,  wliile  the  remainder  of  the  be- 
leaguering host  pressed  forward  to  new  victories. 

The  provisional  government  in  Paris,  assuming  that 
the  war  was  the  criminal  act  of  the  imperial  government, 
which  was  now  overthrown,  applied  through  M.  Thiers 
for  peace.  "  It  is  understood,"  said  "  The  London 
Times  "  of  Sept.  14,  "  that  M.  Thiers  offered  an  indem- 
nity of  five  hundred  million  dollars,  one-half  the  French 
fleet,  to  dismantle  the  fortresses  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine, 
and  to  leave  the  Rhine  provinces,  for  which  France  had 
.commenced  the  war,  in  the  hands  of  Prussia." 

The  reply,  so  far  as  it  can  be  gathered  from  the  offi- 
cial journals  in  Berlin,  was,  that  there  is  no  longer  any 
government  in  France  with  which  Prussia  could  form  a 
treaty ;  that  the  present  government  in  Paris  exists  only 
by  leave  of  the  gutter  democracy ;  that  the  security  of 
the  new  empire  which  Prussia  is  establishing  in  Ger- 
many renders  it  essential  that  France  should  be  so  weak- 
ened, that  Germany  shall  never  again  have  cause  to  fear 
that  France  will  cross  the  Rhine. 

Then  it  was  asked,  "  Is  it  not  equally  important  that 
France  should  have  protection  against  Germanic  inva- 
sion ? "  The  emphatic  and  unanswerable  reply  was, 
"  The  conquered  must  submit  to  the  will  of  the  con- 
queror." 

*  Testimouy  of  Dr.  Schnergaus,  a  member  of  the  city  council. 


WAR  AND   ITS   WOES.  276 

The  onward  sweep  of  the  Prussian  armies  was  sub- 
lime in  its  aspect.  While  nearly  three  huncbed  thousand 
troops  were  assailing  Marshal  Bazaine  at  Metz,  in  a  war- 
tempest  whose  thunders  were  unintermitted  by  day  or 
by  night,  four  hundred  thousand  more  veteran  soldiers, 
with  rapid  strides,  in  such  array  that  no  force  could  be 
brought  to  resist  them,  circled  around  the  doomed  city 
of  Paris,  gu-ding  it  with  a  chain  of  ponderous  batteries 
and  bristhng  steel,  through  which  there  was  no  escape. 

It  seemed  as  though  there  were  no  limit  to  the  number 
of  troops  which  Germany  had  poured  into  France.  There 
were  enough  to  besiege  Metz,  to  besiege  Paris,  to  be- 
siege a  score  of  other  minor  fortresses  ;  and  there  were 
men  enough  left  to  send  powerful  armies,  —  north  to 
Amiens,  and  south  to  Orleans  and  Tours.  Every  day 
announced  some  new  German  victory.  Jules  Favre 
endeavored  to  represent  the  Bonaparte  dynasty  as  ex- 
clusively responsible  for  the  war.  To  this,  Bismarck's 
organ  in  BerUn,  "  The  North-German  Correspondent," 
rephed,  — 

"M.  Jules  Favre  has  given  himself  the  trouble  to 
defend  this  perversion  of  history  and  common  sense  in  a 
long  circular  despatch.  We  maintain,  on  the  other  hand, 
and  our  asseverations  are  supported  by  all  the  facts  of 
the  case,  that  the  immense  majority  of  the  French  peo- 
ple, through  all  the  organs  of  public  opinion, — in  the 
press,  the  Senate,  the  Corps  Legislative,  and  the  army, 
nay,  down  to  the  very  street-mobs  of  Paris,  —  demanded 
war.  Even  the  small  minority  which  hold  at  present 
in  their  hands  the  reins  of  state  are  so  far  from  honest- 
ly seeking  peace,  that  they  are  doing  what  in  thom  lies 
to  make  peace  impossible." 

Wc  can  form  some  estimate  of  the  state  of  feeling  in 


2T6  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

France  upon  this  subject  by  supposing  that  Mexico  were 
a  rich,  powerful  military  empire,  with  a  population  of 
forty  millions,  and  every  man  a  trained  soldier.  If  the 
Mississippi  were  the  only  natural  boundary  between 
Mexico  and  the  United  States,  it  would  indeed  be  hu- 
miliating to  allow  Mexico  to  hold  the  territory  on  both 
banks  of  the  stream,  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Ohio. 

The  German  Empire,  now  rising  in  such  gigantic  pro- 
portions, is  in  direct  and  intense  antagonism  with  the 
political  principles  prevailing  almost  universally  in 
France.  It  is  an  absolute  government,  founded  upon 
the  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  the  exclu- 
sive privileges  of  the  nobles.  The  French  Empire,  now 
crumbling  to  decay,  was  founded  upon  the  doctrine  of 
the  divine  right  of  the  people^  universal  suffrage,  and 
equal  rights  for  all  men. 

There  was  necessary  antagonism  between  two  sys- 
tems of  government  so  diametrically  opposed  to  each 
other.  There  could  be  no  possible  peace  between  them 
but  by  clearly-defined  boundaries  which  neither  could 
easily  pass,  —  which  France  sought  to  establish ;  or  by 
the  one  empire  so  disarming  and  weakening  the  other  as 
to  render  it  impotent,  —  which  last  Prussia  sought  to  do. 

It  would  require  volumes  to  describe  the  scenes  of 
horror  which  were  now  every  hour  transpiring.  The 
Prussians,  in  this  most  wonderful  of  campaigns,  displayed 
military  ability  which  certainly  has  never  been  surpassed, 
and  I  know  not  that  it  has  ever  before  been  equalled. 
Paris  was  invested,  in  a  circuit  forty  miles  in  diameter, 
by  an  army  numbering  three  hundred  thousand  men. 
Every  avenue  of  escape  was  cut  off.  The  most  formi- 
dable intrenchments  were  thrown  up  at  every  point 
which  a  sortie  could  strike.     These  intrenchments  were 


WAR   AND   ITS   WOES.  277 

protected  by  thirty  tliousaiul  men.  In  case  of  a  sortie^ 
telegraphic  coniraunication  instantly  brought  to  their 
aid  thirty  thousand  men  on  either  side  of  them  to  attack 
the  assailants  on  both  flanks.  Thus  ninety  thousand 
men  behind  the  strongest  earthworks  were  prepared  to 
repel  any  attempts  to  pierce  their  lines. 

Tliree  hundred  thousand  men  surrounded  Metz,  and 
its  doom  was  sealed.  The  storm  of  an  incessant  bom- 
bardment fell  upon  Montraedi  and  Toul  and  Thionville 
and  Bitche  and  Phalsburg.  Bazelle  was  in  ashes  ;  and 
its  three  thousand  inhabitants  were  wandering  along  the 
roads,  houseless,  foodless,  clotheless,  seeking  relief  from 
those  who  were  nearly  as  miserable  as  themselves. 

Seventy  thousand  Prussian  cavalry  scoured  the  coun- 
try in  all  directions,  gathering  ample  supplies  for  the 
invading  army  of  nearly  a  million  of  men.  Almost 
every  day  announced  the  demolition  of  some  fortress,  or 
the  capture  of  some  town,  by  the  resistless  Prussians. 
France,  bleeding,  robbed,  humiliated,  almost  helpless, 
was  without  any  recognized  government  or  any  spirit 
of  cordial  co-operation  among  its  distracted  people.  As 
the  Prussians  advanced,  they  found  almost  a  deserted 
country  before  them.  The  peasants,  in  terror,  fled  into 
the  woods. 

Mr.  Malet,  a  secretary  of  the  English  legation  in  Paris, 
gives  the  following  report  of  an  interview  he  held  with 
Count  Bismarck.  The  Prussian  minister  said  in  refer- 
ence to  peace  with  France,  — 

"  We  don't  want  money :  we  are  rich.  We  don't 
want  ships :  Germany  is  not  a  naval  power.  But  we 
know  very  well  that  we  shall  leave  behind  us  in  France 
an  undying  legacy  of  hate  ;  and  that,  happen  what  may 
just  now,  France  will  at  once  go  into  training.     What 


278  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

we  now  insist  upon  is  Metz  and  Strasburg.  We  shall 
keep  them  for  a  bulwai-k  against  French  invasion,  mak- 
ing them  stronger  than  ever  before." 

Metz  and  Strasburg,  which  Bismarck  thus  demanded, 
were  the  main  fortresses  of  the  important  provinces 
of  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  These  provinces  embraced  the 
six  northern  departments  of  France,  spreading  over 
12,430  square  miles,  and  containing  a  population  of 
about  three  million  inhabitants,  who  were  intensely 
French  in  their  feelings. 

In  continuation  of  the  conversation  which  Mr.  Malet 
reports.  Count  Bismarck  said,  "  What  the  king  and  I 
most  fear  is  the  effect  of  a  republic  in  France  upon  Ger- 
many. No  one  knows  as  well  as  we  do  what  has  been 
the  influence  of  American  republicanism  in  Germany." 

M.  Jules  Favre,  in  behalf  of  the  government  of  the 
national  defence  in  Paris,  as  minister  of  foreign  affairs, 
visited  Bismarck  at  the  Prussian  headquarters  at 
Ferrieres.  He  gives  a  minute  report  of  the  interview  in 
the  "Moniteur  "  of  the  28th  of  September.     He  says, — 

"  The  count  maintained  that  the  security  of  Germany 
commanded  him  to  guard  tli^  territory  which  protected 
it.  He  repeated  several  times,  '  Strasburg  is  the  key  to 
the  house :  I  must  have  it.'  '  The  two  departments,'  he 
said,  '  of  the  Bas  Rhin  and  the  Haut  Mhm,  a  part  of 
the  Moselle,  with  Metz,  Chateaux  Chalins  and  Senones, 
are  indispensable.  I  know  well,'  he  added,  '  that  they 
are  not  with  us.  That  will  impose  an  unpleasant  job 
upon  us ;  but  we  cannot  help  it.  I  am  sure,  that,  in  a 
short  time,  we  shall  have  a  new  war  with  you.  We 
wish  to  make  it  with  all  our  advantaores.'  " 

"  It  is  clear,"  writes  Jules  Favre,  "  that,  in  the  intoxi- 
cation of  victory,  Prussia  wishes  for  the  destruction  of 


WAR  AND  ITS   WOES.  279 

France.  She  demands  three  of  our  departments,  two 
fortified  cities,  —  one  of  a  hundred  thousand,  the  other 
of  seventy-five  thousand  inhabitants,  —  and  eight  or  ten 
smaller  ones  also  fortified.  She  knows  that  the  popula- 
tions she  wishes  to  tear  from  us  repulse  her ;  but  she 
seizes  them,  nevertheless,  replying  with  the  edge  of  the 
sword  to  their  protestations  against  such  an  outrage  of 
their  civic  liberty  and  their  moral  dignity.  To  the  nation 
that  demands  the  opportunity  of  self-consultation  she 
proposes  the  guaranty  of  her  cannon,  planted  at  Mt. 
Valdrien.  Let  the  nation  that  hears  this  either  rise  at 
once,  or  at  once  disavow  us  when  we  counsel  resistance 
to  the  bitter  end." 

On  the  16th  of  October,  Soissons,  after  a  severe  bom- 
bardment, fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Prussians,  with  a 
large  amount  of  mihtary  stores.  Some  idea  of  the 
terrors  of  these  bombardments  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact,  that,  from  an  official  statement,  it  appears  that  in 
the  bombardment  of  Strasburg,  which  lasted  thirty-one 
days,  441  pieces  of  ordnance  were  used,  which  threw 
into  the  city  193,722  shots,  averaging  6,249  daily,  or 
between  four  and  five  each  minute.  Some  of  these 
enonnous  missiles  of  destruction  weighed  a  hundred  and 
eighty  pounds. 

Day  after  day  came  fraught  with  disaster.  Though 
the  broken  bands  of  the  French,  and  the  new  recruits 
which  sprang  up  here  and  there,  fought  with  despera- 
tion, and  gained  some  victories,  the  majestic  march  of 
the  Prussians  was  resistlessly  onward.  Paris  was  every 
hour  becoming  more  hopelessly  bound  in  the  iron  girdle 
which  surrounded  it.  Under  the  empire,  Paris  had 
become  the  most  beautiful  city  in  the  world.  Scholars, 
artists,  pleasure-seekers,  thronged  it  from  all  nations. 


280  HISTORY   OP  PRUSSIA. 

Even  the  bitterest  foes  of  the  empire  did  not  deny  its 
rapid  increase  in  wealth,  beauty,  and  all  artistic  attrac- 
tions. 

"  The  life  of  this  beautiful  city,"  says  "  The  New- 
York  Tribune  "  of  Nov.  29, 1870,  "  has  been  for  eighteen 
years  one  of  the  most  singular  examples  ever  seen  of 
an  unbroken  tide  of  material  success.  It  has  increased 
vastly  in  extent,  in  riches,  in  population  ;  and,  in  every 
department  of  luxury  and  art,  there  has  been  an  im- 
provement without  parallel  in  recent  times." 

King  William,  and  his  son  the  Crown  Prince,  had  been 
honored  guests  at  the  Tuileries,  and  had  admired  the 
beauties  of  a  city  which  has  no  rival  in  Europe.  It  is 
said  that  they  shrank  from  the  Vandalism  of  throwing 
their  shells  into  the  palaces,  the  churches,  the  thronged 
streets,  the  homes  of  elegance,  and  the  galleries  of  art, 
with  which  the  city  abounded.  They  feared  that  the 
sympathies  of  the  world  would  be  with  Paris,  thus 
doomed  to  destruction. 

The  war  had  now  become  simply  an  effort,  on  the 
part  of  Prussia,  to  wrest  from  France  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine, that  France  might  be  thus  weakened,  and  Prussia 
thus  strengthened.  The  openly-avowed  object  was  ter- 
ritorial aggrandizement.  Would  Christendom  sustain 
Prussia  in  the  destruction  of  Paris  and  the  slaughter  of 
thousands  of  its  helpless  citizens  for  such  an  object?  It 
is  confidently  said  that  Count  Bismarck  urged  the  hurl- 
ing of  the  shells,  but  that  the  king  hesitated. 

It  should  also  be  stated  that  Paris  was  surrounded 
by  a  cordon  of  forts,  supporting  each  other  at  such 
a  distance  outside  of  the  walls,  that  the  Prussians 
could  not  plant  their  siege-guns  near  enough  to  throw 
their  shells  into  the  city ;  and  that  this  fact,  not  con- 


WAR   AND   ITS   WOES.  281 

siclcrations  of  hnmanitj,  caused  the  bombardment  to  Ije 
postponed. 

But,  whatever  the  cause  may  have  been,  the  dreary 
weeks  rolled  on,  with  mcessant  and  bloody  battles  around 
the  walls ;  while  two  millions  of  people,  shut  out  from 
all  intercourse  with  the  outside  world,  were  consigned 
to  the  resistless  approaches  of  famine,  —  a  foe  more  to  be 
dreaded  than  fire  or  the  sword. 

A  part  of  the  provisional  government  was  in  Paris : 
a  part  liad  escaped  in  a  balloon  to  Tours.  A  French 
army  was  gathering  near  Tours  for  the  defence  of  the 
portion  of  the  ministry  assembled  there.  A  large  army 
of  Prussians  was  on  the  march  to  capture  those  minis- 
ters, or-disperse  them.  The  Prussian  king  and  his  suite 
took  possession  of  the  magnificent  saloons  of  Versailles, 
where  they  "  fared  sumptuously  every  day."  Jules  Fa- 
vre  was  in  Paris,  acting  as  President  of  France.  Gen. 
Trochu  was  military  governor  of  the  city,  having  received 
his  appointment  from  the  emperor.  The  complications 
would  have  been  exceedingly  ludicrous,  had  not  the  cir- 
cumstances been  so  extremely  distressing. 

On  the  27th  of  October,  King  William  sent  the 
astounding  telegram  to  Berlin,  "  This  morning,  Bazaine 
and  Metz  capitulated.  A  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
prisoners,  including  twenty  thousand  sick  and  wounded, 
laid  down  their  arms  this  afternoon,  —  one  of  the  most 
imi)ortant  events  of  the  war.    Providence  be  thanked ! " 

For  sixty-seven  days,  the  gallant  troops  had  struggled 
against  overpowering  numl)ers.  They  had  expended 
their  ammunition,  and  had  eaten  up  tlieir  horses.  Tlicir 
hospitals  were  filled  with  the  sick  and  wounded,  and 
starvation  was  staring  them  in  the  face.  The  army  did 
not  fall  unavenged.     Forty-five  thousand  of  the  army 


282  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

of  Prince  Charles  had  perished,  during  the  siege,  of  sick- 
ness or  wounds,  sending  a  wail  of  anguish  into  forty- 
five  thousand  German  homes  beyond  the  Rhine.  The 
suiTender  of  this  army  with  its  veteran  soldiers  and 
generals,  and  the  surrender  of  this  all-important  fortress 
with  its  vast  supply  of  heavy  guns  and  small-arms,  was 
a  disaster  apparently  irretrievable. 

Marshal  Bazaine  was  an  imperialist.  He  had  no  re- 
spect for  the  democratic  committees  which  had  sprung 
up  in  different  parts  of  France.  These  committees  con- 
sequently denounced  him  as  a  traitor,  and  clamored  for 
his  head ;  but  subsequent  developments  proved  that 
he  had  done  every  thing  he  could  do  for  the  salvation  of 
woe-stricken  France. 

The  capitulation  of  Metz  released  an  army  of  three 
hundred  thousand  Prussians  to  co-operate  in  the  siege 
of  Paris,  and  to  march  with  the  forces  advancing  to- 
wards the  Loire.  On  the  morning  of  the  30th  of  Oc- 
tober, the  governmental  committee  in  Tours  issued  a 
proclamation,  in  which  they  said,  — 

"  Metz  has  capitulated.  A  general  upon  whom  France 
relied  has  just  taken  away  {yient  (jfenlever)  from  the 
country,  in  its  danger,  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  of 
its  defenders.  Marshal  Bazaine  has  betrayed  us.  He 
has  made  himself  the  agent  of  the  man  of  Sedan,  and 
the  accomplice  of  the  invader.  Regardless  of  the  honor 
of  the  army  of  which  he  had  charge,  he  has  surrendered, 
without  even  making  a  last  effort,  a  hundred  and  twen- 
ty thousand  fighting  men,  twenty  thousand  wounded, 
guns,  cannons,  colors,  and  the  strongest  citadel  of 
France.  Such  a  crime  is  above  even  the  punishment 
of  justice. 

"  Meanwhile,  Frenchmen,  measure  the  depths  of  the 


WAR  AND   ITS   WOES.  283 

abyss  into  which  the  empu'e  has  precipitated  you.  For 
twenty  years,  France  submitted  to  this  corrupting  power, 
which  extinguished  in  her  the  springs  of  greatness  and 
of  hfe.  The  army  of  France,  stripped  of  its  national 
character,  became,  without  knowing  it,  an  instrument  of 
tyranny  and  servitude,  and  is  swallowed  up,  in  spite  of 
the  lieroism  of  the  soldiers,  by  the  treason  of  their  chiefs. 
It  is  time  for  us  to  re-assert  ourselves  under  the  aigis  of 
the  republic." 

This  address  was  signed  by  Cremieux,  Glais-Bisoin, 
and  Gambetta,  —  men  who  were  regarded  as  political 
adventurers,  and  in  whom  France  had  no  confidence. 
Nothing  can  more  clearly  show  the  unfitness  of  such 
men  to  govern  than  the  total  want  of  acquaintance 
with  human  nature  which  this  proclamation  evinced. 
France,  in  these  hours  of  anguish,  needed  the  union  of 
all  parties  by  the  spirit  of  mutual  conciliation. 

For  twenty  years  the  empire  had  governed  France, 
crowning  it  with  prosperity,  and  making  it  the  leading 
power  in  Europe.  Again  and  again  the  empu^e  had 
been  sustained  by  the  votes  of  the  overwhelming  major- 
ity of  the  people.  The  rural  population  were  imperial- 
ists almost  to  a  man.  The  army,  composed  of  young 
men  taken  from  the  cottages  and  the  workshops,  ardent- 
ly supported  the  empire.  The  generals  who  led  these 
armies  had,  without  an  exception,  taken  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  empire.  Without  the  support  of  these 
generals,  these  armies,  and  these  masses  of  the  people, 
France  was  powerless ;  and  yet  these  committee-men, 
wlio  assumed  to  be  the  government  of  France,  who 
bad  gained  power  simply  through  the  energies  of  a 
Parisian  mol),  endeavored  to  unite  France  under  tlicir 
government  by  denouncing  the  emperor  in  the  strong- 


284  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

est  language  of  contempt,  by  declaring  the  chiefs  of  the 
army  to  be  traitors,  the  soldiers  to  be  dupes,  —  who  had 
been,  without  knowing  it,  the  instruments  of  tyranny 
and  servitude, —  and  the  masses  of  the  people  as  guilty 
of  the  inconceivable  folly  of  submitting  for  twenty 
years  to  a  corrupting  power  which  had  extinguished  the 
springs  of  life  in  France. 

Under  these  circumstances,  with  the  cities  under  the 
control  of  the  democratic  party,  heaping  scorn  upon 
the  imperialists  and  the  rural  districts,  and  all  the  lead- 
ing officers  of  the  church,  the  army,  and  the  state, 
wedded  to  the  empire,  there  seemed  to  be  no  possibility 
of  that  enthusiastic  co-operation  of  all  France  which 
was  essential  to  the  repulse  of  the  invaders. 

Still  the  generals  and  the  armies  fought  despairingly, 
and  gained  some  minor  victories.  New  recruits  some- 
what languidly  entered  the  field.  During  the  month  of 
November,  the  battle  raged  almost  incessantly  over 
vast  regions  of  the  northern  and  central  departments 
of  France.  The  emperor  was  a  prisoner.  The  empire 
was  overthrown.  There  was  no  government  in  France. 
Prussia,  on  the  contrary,  was  guiding  her  invincible 
bands  with  all  the  energies  of  despotic  power.  The 
world,  which  looked  on,  could  see  no  hope  for  France. 
Her  doom  of  utter  defeat  and  humiliation  seemed  in- 
evitable. Could  France  rally  en  masse  with  entliusiasm 
under  any  recognized  government,  —  imperial,  monarchi- 
cal, or  republican,  —  with  the  seven  millions  of  fighting 
men  she  could  bring  into  the  field,  with  the  entire  com- 
mand of  the  sea,  enabling  her  to  obtain  any  amount  of 
arms  and  munitions  of  war,  she  might  still  drive  the 
invaders  bleeding  and  breathless  from  her  soil;  but 
there  seemed  now  to  be  no  possibihty  of  this  co-opera- 
tion. 


WAR   AND   ITS   WOES.  285 

Were  the  question  between  Fnince  and  Germany  pre- 
sented to  an  impartial  umpire,  the  decision  woukl  uu- 
douljtedly  be,  "  Let  the  forty  milKons  of  Germans  be 
organized  under  any  form  of  government  they  may 
choose,  with  the  River  Rhine  as  their  southern  frontier. 
Let  the  forty  millions  of  Frenchmen  be  organized  luider 
any  form  of  government  they  may  like,  with  the  River 
Rhine  as  their  northern  frontier." 

This  woidd  be  settling  the  question  according  to  the 
dictates  of  reason ;  according  to  the  boundary  which 
Nature  has  marked  out.  This  would  give  neither  party 
the  advantage  over  the  other.  With  such  a  boundary, 
the  absolute  empire  of  Germany  and  the  republican 
empire  of  France,  or  republican  Germany  and  republi- 
can France,  might  live  on  terms  of  fraternal  kindliness. 

But  it  seems  now  (early  in  December,  1870)  that  the 
question  is  not  to  be  settled  by  reason,  but  by  iron  and 
by  blood.  The  conquered  must  submit  to  the  dictation 
of  the  conqueror.  The  rolling  centuries  have,  however, 
taught  us  one  lesson, —  that  notldng  is  settled  in  this  ivorld 
until  it  is  settled  right.  The  infamous  treaties  of  1815 
planted  the  seeds  of  the  wars  which  in  these  later  years 
have  drenched  the  fields  of  Italy  and  Austria  with  blood, 
and  of  the  conflict  which  is  now  filling  Germany  and 
France  with  the  wailing  cry  of  widows  and  of  orphans. 

We  know  not  Avhat  God  has  in  reserve  for  France,  for 
Europe,  for  humanity.  Nations  as  well  as  individuals 
need  and  receive  chastening  from  the  Lord.  In  view 
of  the  woes  which  are  still  desolating  this  war-scathed 
world,  one  is  led  to  cry  out  in  anguish,  "  How  long,  O 
Lord !  how  long  ?  "  The  awful  carnage  now  drenching 
the  fields  of  France  with  French  and  German  blood 
must  ere  long  come  to  a  close.     Then  the  settlement 


286  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

which  shall  be  accepted  will  decide  whether  there  shall 
be  permanent  peace  and  fraternity,  or  merely  a  truce,  to 
give  place,  after  a  few  years,  to  another  bloody  conflict, 
which  shall  again  shroud  t-u'O  nations,  and  perhaps  all 
Europe,  in  woe.  Every  friend  of  humanity  will  pray 
that  God  will  so  guide  the  event,  that  abiding  peace  may 
come  to  our  sad,  sad  world. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 


THE     GERMANIC     EMPIRE. 


LL  the  plans  of  Count  Bismarck  seemed 
almost  miraculously  to  succeed.  The 
thought  of  a  great  German  empire  in  the 
heart  of  Europe,  which  should  rival  in 
grandeur  and  power  the  glories  of  Charle- 
magne, apparently  inspired  all  Germany 
with  such  enthusiasm  as  to  silence  every 
republican  murmur,  and  cause  all  fears  of  despotism  to 
be  forgotten,  and  all  aspirations  for  popular  rights  to  be 
obliterated  from  the  public  mind.  State  after  State  of 
Southern  Germany  professed  allegiance  to  Prussia,  and  its 
readiness  to  accept  King  William  as  Emperor  of  United 
Germany,  —  emperor  by  divine  right ;  to  be  the  ruler, 
and  not  the  servant,  of  the  people. 

Bismarck  knew  full  well,  and  frankly  gave  expression 
to  the  opinion,  that  France  would  never  consent,  except 
by  compulsion,  to  leane  herself  at  the  mercy  of  Germa- 
ny ;  which  empire,  holding  both  banks  of  the  Rhine,  could 
at  any  time  pour  her  armies  resistlcssly  into  the  empii'c 
of  France.  It  was  certain,  that,  were  peace  made  upon 
those  terms,  France,  so  soon  as  she  had  recovered  from 
the  exhaustion  and  ravages  of  the  war,  would  gather 
her  strength  anew,  to  regain  those  provinces  which  she 

M7 


288  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

deemed  essential  to  her  independent  existence,  now  tliat 
Germany  liad  become  a  power  before  which  all  Enrope 
trembled.  Hence  it  was  that  Bismarck  deemed  it  essen- 
tial to  the  success  of  his  plans  that  Prussia  should  not 
only  hold  those  Rhenish  provinces  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Rhine  upon  which  she  had  already  reared  so  many 
impregnable  fortresses,  but  that  she  should  wrest  from 
France  the  whole  remaining  line  from  her  frontier-for- 
tress of  Lauterburg,  —  a  hundred  miles  south,  to  Basle, 
in  Switzerland. 

This  acquisition,  transferring  to  Prussia  the  magnifi- 
cent provinces  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  with  the  ancient 
fortress  of  Strasburg,  would  sink  France  to  a  second- 
rate  power.  Nothing  could  induce  her  to  make  this 
sacrifice  but  the  deepest  conceivable  humiliation.  The 
fact  that  Prussia  was  abundantly  prepared  for  the  war, 
with  her  armies  all  marshalled,  with  her  ammunition- 
wagons  all  filled,  with  her  transportation-cars  all  ready, 
indicates  clearly  that  the  attainment  of  this  end  was  the 
prominent  object  which  Prussia  had  in  view  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war.  And  it  must  be  admitted  that 
this  was  shrewd  policy.  It  was  an  essential  step  in  the 
plan  of  revivmg  the  empire  of  Charlemagne  upon  the 
old  feudal  foundation  of  the  divine  right  of  kings.  To 
all  the  pleadings  of  humiliated  France  for  peace,  the  in- 
variable reply  was,  "  Surrender  Alsace  and  Lorraine  !  " 

Terrible  as  was  the  loss  which  the  Prussians  encoun- 
tered in  their  series  of  almost  uninterrupted  victories, 
their  ranks  were  kept  full  by  an  incessant  stream  of  re- 
cruits forwarded  from  the  Germanic  States.  The  loss 
of  life  seemed  to  be  a  matter  not  taken  into  considera- 
tion in  the  prosecution  of  these  plans  of  territorial 
aggrandizement. 


THE   GERMANIC    EMPIRE.  280 

At  no  time  from  the  commencement  of  the  invasion 
was  there  less  than  half  a  milUon  of  well-trained  Ger- 
man soldiers  in  France.  Within  a  few  weeks,  they  cap- 
tured or  destroyed  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
regular  French  troops.  It  is  said  that  there  were  about 
four  hundred  thousand  soldiers  of  all  arms,  many  merely 
citizen-soldiers,  who  were  shut  up  in  Paris.  They  manned 
the  forts,  kept  up  an  incessant  fire  on  the  Prussian  hues, 
and  made  many  despei'ate  sorties.  Though  at  times 
partially  victorious,  they  were,  in  the  end,  always  haffled. 
Not  a  wagon  could  enter  the  city  ;  not  an  individual 
could  leave  but  by  soaring  through  the  clouds  in  a 
balloon. 

Various  attempts  were  made,  with  more  or  less  of 
success,  to  create  in  different  parts  of  France,  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  Prussian  cannon,  new  armies.  But  the 
well-trained  Germans  swept  the  territory  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  almost  every  day  brought  its  catalogue  of 
their  victories  and  their  conquests.  Everywhere  that 
any  considerable  French  force  made  its  appearance,  either 
in  the  north  near  Amiens,  or  in  the  south  upon  the  Loire, 
they  were  pretty  sure  to  be  promptly  assailed  by  a  supe- 
rior force  of  Prussians  ;  and  however  fiercely  they  fought, 
and  however  densely  they  strewed  the  ground  wdth  the 
slain  of  their  assailants,  they  were  eventually  put  to 
flight. 

Early  in  December,  a  sortie  was  attempted  from  Paris 
with  a  hundred  thousand  men.  The  battle  was  as  fierce 
as  mortal  energies  could  wage.  The  slaughter  on  both 
sides  was  dreadful.  Both  parties  made  victorious  onsets  ; 
both  parties  shared  in  disastrous  defeats.  Thousands  of 
hearts  in  the  cottages  of  France  and  Germany  were  rent 
with  anguish  as  tidings  reached  them  of  loved  ones  who 

19 


290  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

would  never  return.  Still  Prussia  was  steadily  winding 
her  chains  more  tightly  around  the  doomed  city,  crying 
out,  "  Give  us  Alsace  and  Lorraine  !  "  and  still  the  de- 
spairing French  exclaimed,  "  We  will  bury  ourselves 
beneath  the  ruins  of  Paris  ere  we  will  submit  to  any 
further  dismemberment  of  the  empire !  "  The  tide 
of  public  opinion  in  England  and  America  was  no^v 
rapidly  turning  in  favor  of  the  French,  who  were 
now  fighting  so  heroically  for  the  integrity  of  their 
realms.  All  that  France  now  hoped  for  was  to  obtain 
such  terms  of  peace  as  would  not  compel  every  French- 
man to  hang  his  head  for  shame.  A  writer  in  the  "  New- 
York  Herald  "  of  Dec.  3  undoubtedly  gave  expression 
to  the  rapidly-increasing  public  sentiment  in  saying,  — 

"  And  here  we  are  led  to  look  at  the  present  object 
and  spirit  of  the  war  on  the  part  of  Prussia.  Both  the 
purpose  and  character  of  this  dreadful  conflict  have 
changed.  From  a  war  of  defence,  and  against  '  the 
Bonapartes,'  it  has  become  an  ambitious  and  a  relent- 
less one.  To  squelch  the  French  republic,  and  to  dis- 
member France,  is  now  the  object  of  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia. He  says,  or  rather  Count  Bismarck  says  for  him, 
that  it  is  not  continued  from  hostility  to  republicanism. 
Both  pretend  that  they  are  not  making  war  upon  the 
republic  of  France  ;  that  they  are  comparatively  indiffer- 
ent as  to  what  form  of  government  the  French  people 
may  choose  ;  and  that  they  have  no  wish  to  interfere  with 
such  choice,  or  to  impose  any  government  upon  the 
nation.  This  declaration  does  not  accord  with  their  ac- 
tion, nor  with  their  sentiments  and  policy.  It  is  unrea- 
sonable to  suppose  a  proud  monarch,  an  absolutist  of 
the  old  '  divine-right '  school,  like  King  William,  would 
be  indifferent  to  the  establishment  of  a  republican  gov- 


TTTE   GERMANTC    EMPIRE.  291 

ernment  in  France,  or  that  lie  would  not  try  to  prevent 
it.  It  is  as  unlikely  that  his  aristocratic  minister,  or  the 
proud  aristocracy  of  Prussia,  and  the  hundreds  of  petty 
princes  of  Germany,  are  indifferent.  No:  they" fear  too 
much  the  danger  to  their  own  privileges  from  a  great 
republic  in  the  heart  of  Europe,  embracing  such  a  vast 
territory  and  population.  They  know  by  experience 
a!id  from  the  lessons  of  history  what  an  extraordinary 
influence  a  French  republic  has  m  awakening  and  diffus- 
ing republican  ideas  and  aspirations  in  surrounding  na- 
tions. They  dread  this  propagandism  of  liberty  and 
democracy ;  and,  if  possible,  will  extinguish  the  fire  before 
it  is  well  lighted." 

The  pressui'e  of  defeat  and  misery  was  gradually 
uniting  all  parties.  The  Catholic  priesthood,  which 
has  almost  boundless  influence  over  the  peasantry,  was 
at  first  bewildered  in  view  of  the  usurpation  of  the 
government  by  democratic  leaders  in  Paris,  who  were 
as  hostile  to  the  church  as  to  the  empire  ;  but  the 
priests  now  began  to  see  that  the  triumph  of  the  Prus- 
sians was  the  ruin  of  France. 

«  The  priests,"  said  "  The  London  Times  "  of  Dec.  2, 
"  in  the  rural  districts,  are  preaching  against  the  Prus- 
sians. The  rustics  are,  conscquentl}',  terribly  incensed 
against  the  invaders.  German  patrols  in  the  Valley  of 
the  Loire  are  shot  down  from  every  hedge  and  build- 
ing. The  Prussian  bearers  of  despatches  are  killed 
when  nobody  but  innocent-looldng  ploughmen  are  in 
sight.  Many  of  these  priests  have  been  captured  by 
the  Prussians,  and  they  will  be  brought  to  trial." 

The  French  troops  did  not  rally  with  any  enthusiasm 
around  Garibaldi :  he  was  a  foreigner  and  a  heretic. 
Though  he  fouglit  heroically,  and  gained  some  minor 


292  HISTOTIY    OF   P'RUSSIA. 

victories  with  his  small  band,  he  could  accomplish  noth- 
ing which  would  have  any  serious  bearing  on  the  issues 
of  the  war.  After  almost  every  victory,  he  found  it 
necessary  to  order  a  retreat. 

Early  in  December,  Gen.  De  Paladines,  who  had  gath- 
ered an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  new  levies  near 
Tours,  commenced  a  march  for  the  relief  of  Paris.  As 
he  approached  the  walls,  a  sortie  was  to  have  been  made, 
and  the  Prussian  line  at  that  point  was  to  have  been 
crushed  between  the  hosts.  The  soj-tie  was  attempted, 
and,  though  partially  successful,  did  not  accomplish  the 
end  desired.  Gen.  De  Paladines  commenced  his  march. 
He  was  soon  encountered  by  a  superior  force  under 
Prince  Frederick  Charles,  and  after  a  two-days'  battle, 
having  inflicted  and  suffered  terrible  slaughter,  was 
driven  back  to  Orleans. 

The  Prussians  pursued  them,  and,  having  erected 
their  batteries,  threatened  to  open  fire  upon  the  city. 
To  save  the  citizens  from  the  horrors  of  a  bombardment, 
De  Paladines  withdrew  his  army,  and,  retiring  to  the 
left  bank  of  the  Loire,  permitted  Orl(ians  for  the  second 
time  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  foe.  This  was  on  the 
4th  of  December.  The  victorious  Prussians,  moving  in 
various  directions,  recaptured  five  important  towns  in 
the  vicinity.  Still  the  French  did  not  yield  to  despair. 
"  The  London  Times  "  of  Dec.  5  says,  — 

"  Special  despatches  show  that  the  people  are  more 
encouraged  and  better  assured  than  ever  before.  Al- 
though in  the  midst  of  almost  crushing  misfortunes,  the 
republicans  are  waging  a  desperate  struggle  for  life  and 
liberty." 

The  disastrous  defeat  of  De  Paladines'  army  seemed  to 
destroy  all  hopes  in  Paris  for  relief  from  abroad.     Fam- 


THE   GERMANIC    EkPIRE.  293 

iiic  is  a  foe  against  which  no  power  in  the  end  can 
contend.  There  were  two  millions  of  j^eople  shut  np 
in  J^aris.  Rapidly  tlieir  provisions  were  disappearing ; 
and  no  additional  supplies  could  by  any  possibility  bo 
brought  into  the  city.  Haggard  cheeks  and  skeleton 
frames  were  already  seen  in  the  streets ;  the  animals  in 
the  menagerie  in  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  were  slain  and 
eaten ;  cats  and  dogs  and  rats  were,  in  the  disguise  of 
French  cookery,  eagerly  devoured ;  horse-flesh  became 
a  coveted  dainty.  To  all  the  world  it  appeared  that 
the  end  was  at  hand,  and  that  Paris  must  speedily 
capitulate. 

All  accounts  agreed  in  describing  the  conduct  of  the 
French  in  these  engagements  as  heroic  in  the  extreme. 
jNIany  of  the  charges  they  made  excited  the  admiration 
of  their  foes.  They  disprove  the  assertion  so  frequently 
made,  that  the  Frenchmen  of  the  present  generation  are 
wanting  in  the  chivalric  courage  which  characterized 
their  ancestors. 

Still  the  democratic  provisional  government  at  Tours 
distrusted  the  old  generals  of  the  empire.  They  at- 
tril)uted  every  defeat  to  their  devotion  to  the  empire, 
and  to  tlieir  want  of  zeal  in  fighting  for  a  republic. 

"  It  is  a  standing  belief  of  the  French,"  says  one  of 
the  daily  journals,  "  that  every  general  of  theirs  who  is 
beaten  is  a  traitor.  Napoleon,  Bazaine,  Leboeuf,  Canro- 
l)ert,  and  the  rest,  are  traitors,  or  they  never  would  have 
suffered  defeat.  Cambriel  also  is  a  traitor,  or  he  would 
have  permitted  the  Garibaldians  to  ride  rough-shod  over 
liim.  The  last  traitor  is  De  Paladincs,  —  even  ho  wlio 
was  the  idol  of  last  week.  We  place  him  in  tlio  list 
because  the  French  already  talk  of  having  him  court- 
martialled.     All  idea  that  the  Germans  are  mainly  re- 


294  HISTOJIY   OF  PKUSSIA. 

sponsible  for  the  defeat  of  their  armies  is  scouted  by  the 
people ;  it  is  impossible ;  and  so  the  poor  generals  get 
the  blame." 

The  news  was  soon  flashed  along  the  wires  that  the 
ancient  city  of  Rouen,  the  world-renowned  capital  of 
Normandy,  was  in  the  hands  "of  the  conqueror.  This 
enriched  the  Prussians  with  the  sjDoils  of  one  of  the 
most  fertile  departments  in  France,  —  filling  their  maga- 
zines with  grain,  and  abundantly  supplying  them  with 
herds  of  fat  cattle.  Rouen  was  within  sixty  miles  of 
Havre,  one  of  the  most  important  seaports  in  France, 
and  the  seat  of  many  of  its  most  celebrated  manufac- 
tures. The  occupation  of  Rouen  by  the  German  troops 
cut  off  all  communication  between  Havre  and  the  inte- 
rior of  France.  Havre  was  trembling  with  fear,  and  all 
her  energies  were  paralyzed.  Thus,  day  after  day,  the 
prospects  of  France  became  more  dark  and  hopeless ; 
every  Frenchman  understood  that  it  was  a  struggle  for 
national  life.  The  surrender  to  the  great  German  Em- 
pire of  the  south  bank  of  the  Rhine,  for  the  entire  dis- 
tance from  Belgium  and  Holland  to  Switzerland,  would 
prove  a  blow  from  which  France  could  never  hope  to 
recover.  Whether  France  were  to  exist  as  a  republic, 
a  monarchy,  or  an  empire,  she  must  forever  relinquish 
the  proud  supremacy  she  had  so  long  held  in  Euroj)e. 
The  Emperor  of  Germany  could  at  any  time  say,  "  Obey 
me,  or  I  shall  punish  you." 

Gen.  Trochu  had  conducted  the  defence  of  Paris  with 
great  ability.  He  had  marshalled  under  his  banners 
four  hundred  thousand  men,  whom  he  had  carefully 
drilled,  and  supplied  amply  with  arms  from  the  arsenals 
of  Paris.  By  the  incessant  fire  of  his  forts,  he  had  kept 
the  enemy  at  such  a  distance  from  Paris,  that  he  mani- 


THE  GERMANIC    EMPIRE.  295 

festly  could  not  open  upon  the  city  any  e£Fective  bom- 
bardment. Still  it  was  reported  in  the  journals  that  the 
private  secretary  of  the  United-States  ambassador  (Mr. 
Washburne)  had  stated  on  the  4tli  of  December  tliat 
famine  would  compel  the  surrender  of  Paris  within  three 
weeks.  Prince  George  of  Saxony  also  telegraphed  to 
the  king  at  Dresden,  that  it  would  not  be  possible  for 
tlie  French  to  attempt  any  more  offensive  movements. 
Still  many  considered  it  probable  that  Gen.  Trochu 
would  make  another  desperate  effort  to  cut  through  the 
lines  of  the  beleaguering  foe. 

As  we  write  these  lines,  near  the  middle  of  Decem- 
ber, one  immense  portion  of  the  Prussian  army,  various- 
ly estimated  at  from  four  to  five  hundred  thousand  men, 
surrounds  Paris  with  impregnable  lines  over  thirty  miles 
in  circuit.  Another  army,  over  two  hundred  thousand 
strong,  is  driving  the  army  of  Gen.  De  Paladines,  con- 
sisting of  two  hundred  thousand  men  and  five  hundred 
pieces  of  cannon,  across  the  Loire  to  the  southern  bank, 
and  is  threatening  a  march  upon  Tours  to  disperse  that 
portion  of  the  provincial  government  which  is  assembled 
there.  Another  large  German  army  is  near  Amiens, 
sending  out  clouds  of  cavalry  to  scour  the  country  in  all 
directions. 

The  only  intercourse  which  the  government  in  Paris 
can  have  with  the  outside  world  is  by  means  of  balloons. 
Watching  the  wind,  an  immense  balloon  is  sent  up  some 
two  or  three  miles  into  the  air,  and  then  is  left  to  drift 
over  the  Prussian  lines,  often  the  target  for  sharpshoot- 
ers and  artillery,  until,  beyond  the  reach  of  Prussian 
(japture,  it  descends  into  the  fields  of  France  with  its 
compact  mail,  and  often  with  several  passengers.  A  few 
days  ago,  one  of  these  balloons  was  seen  flying  before  a 


296  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

fierce  wind,  far  off  to  sea,  where  all  must  have  per- 
ished. 

Carrier-pigeons  are  taken  from  Paris  in  these  balloons. 
Letters  are  tied  around  their  necks,  when  they  return 
on  s^/ift  wing  to  their  accustomed  cotes  in  Paris.  Thus 
only  does  the  government  in  Tours  hold  any  communica- 
tion with  the  committee  within  the  walls  of  the  city. 

The  tremendous  cannon  planted  upon  the  forts  sur- 
rounding Paris  keep  up  an  incessant  cannonade  upon 
the  Prussian  lines.  The  thunders  of  the  bombardment 
shake  the  hills  by  day  and  by  night.  There  are  daily 
battles  as  the  French  emerge  from  some  portion  of 
their  works,  and  fall  fiercely  upon  the  bristling  circuit 
of  bayonets  and  batteries  which  surround  them.  An 
eye-witness,  who  stood  upon  an  eminence  in  the  Prus- 
sian lines  on  the  4th  of  December,  thus  describes  the 
scene  in  a  despatch  dated  the  next  day  :  — 

"  A  grand  effort  was  made  yesterday  and  the  day  be- 
fore. There  was  a  heavy  cannonade ;  but  no  infantry 
appeared  on  the  north  side.  Very  early  yesterday,  it 
was  apparent  there  was  hot  work  in  the  west.  Mont 
Valdrien  was  thundering  away  in  every  direction.  From 
the  eminence  overhanging  Argenteuil  every  thing  was 
visible :  a  battle  was  progressing  south  of  Valdrien. 
Closer  to  me,  the  work  was  very  warm.  In  the  morning, 
shells  from  the  batteries  at  Nanterre  and  Courbevoie 
had  been  crashing  into  Bezons  and  Argenteuil.  A  shel- 
tered road  behind  the  latter  town  is  scored  in  many 
places  with  deep  ruts  made  by  the  shells. 

"  On  the  other  side  of  the  eminence  where  I  stood, 
the  batteries  kept  up  an  unremitting  fire  of  shells,  which 
ploughed  its  summit  in  all  directions  ;  and  the  buildings 
which  crown  the  eminence  were  knocked  about  remorse- 


THE  GERMANIC    EMITRE.  'l\)l 

lesslj.  As  the  day  broke,  my  position  became  too  dan- 
gerous,  notwithstanding  its  great  advantages  as  a  point 
of  outlook.  I  was  compelled  to  evacuate,  and  retreat 
into  the  low  ground  beyond  it,  which  was  only  '  out  of 
th(;  frying-pan  into  the  fire.'  If  I  went  east,  shells  from 
Labriche  were  tumbling  into  Epernay.  St.  Gratian  and 
Deuil  and  Montmigny  and  Stains  were  having  rough 
times  at  the  hands  of  Fort  du  Nord.  Farther  round, 
Digny  and  Le  Bourget  were  attacked  by  Fort  de  TEst. 
From  Margency  I  accompanied  a  staff-officer  through 
Montmigny,  round  by  Garagi  and  Arnonville.  For  the 
first  time  during  the  siege,  the  Fort  du  Nord  was  throw- 
ing shells  into  IMontmorency. 

"  In  the  forenoon,  there  had  been  a  sortie  toward 
Stains.  Three  battalions  came  over  the  flat  against  it, 
supported  by  a  close-sustained  fire  from  the  Fort  du  Nord 
and  Lunette  de  Stains.  The  village  was  garrisoned  by 
the  second  regiment  of  the  Guard,  and  battalions  of 
Queen  Elizabeth's  Regiment.  The  French  had  two  bat- 
talions of  Gardes  Mobiles,  and  one  of  Garde  Imp6riale. 
They  came  on  with  great  resolution  and  in  excellent 
order.  The  German  Guards,  who  were  waiting  for  them, 
received  them  with  a  steady  fire  within  short  range. 
The  Frenchmen  tried  a  rush  ;  but  the  bullets  stopped 
them.  After  holding  their  ground  for  a  little  while,  and 
exchanging  shots  with  the  Germans,  the  inevitable  result, 
a  retrograde  movement,  set  in.  The  French,  however, 
deserve  credit  for  the  regular  manner  of  the  retreat. 

"  Another  demonstration,  in  the  direction  of  Bourget, 
was  made  at  a  later  hour.  Dense  columns  of  French 
tro(»[)s  appeared  on  the  plain  in  front  of  Fort  Aubers- 
villier,  and  advanced  steadily  towards  Bourget ;  but  they 
lost  heart  before  they  got  nearer  than  the  railway-sta- 


298  HISTORY    OF    PRUSSIA 

tion,  and  never  came  within  range.  Bourget,  already 
pounded  with  shells,  was  again  bombarded  all  day.  In 
fact,  the  fire  of  shells  from  the  forts  all  round  the  circuit 
was  heavy  and  continuous,  but  so  wild  and  purposeless, 
withal,  that  it  did  little  damage.  Every  thing  on  the 
northern  side  has  been  in  the  nature  of  a  feint." 

Such  are  the  scenes,  which,  while  we  write  these  lines, 
are  transpiring  around  unhappy  Paris.  To  human  view, 
there  is  no  hope  for  France.  The  cup  of  humiliation  is 
placed  to  her  lips  ;  and,  unless  there  should  be  some  al- 
most supernatural  interposition,  she  must  drain  it  to  its 
dregs. 

The  conduct  of  the  Committee  of  National  Defence  in 
Tours,  under  these  trying  circumstances,  did  not  secure 
the  confidence  of  the  people  in  France,  or  of  intelligent 
observers  in  any  part  of  the  world.  A  writer  in  "  The 
New- York  Tribune  "  of  Dec.  8  says, — 

"  The  behavior  of  the  Tours  Government,  on  learning 
of  the  defeat  of  the  Army  of  the  Loire  at  Orleans,  is 
more  discouraging  to  the  true  friends  of  France  than  re- 
verses in  the  field  ;  for  it  shows  that  the  men  who  are 
now  suffered  to  direct  the  destinies  of  the  nation  have 
neither  the  intelligence  nor  the  temper  of  statesmen,  and 
that,  in  the  days  of  humiliation  and  internal  discord 
which  must  follow  the  close  of  the  war,  they  will  proba- 
bly be  found  wanting  in  the  real  qualities  of  leadership 
which  the  country  will  then  need. 

"  The  policy  of  the  Committee  of  Defence  thus  far 
has  been  to  utter  magnificent  boasts,  and,  when  their 
recklessness  had  been  exposed,  to  throw  the  blame  of 
failure  upon  people  who  don't  deserve  it.  Very  soon 
there  will  be  a  collapse  of  the  whole  fabric  of  deception, 
just  as  there  was  of  Napoleon's  military  organization. 


THE   GERMANIC   EMPIRE.  209 

M.  Gambetta  had  better  ask  himself  what  he  thinks  will 
become  of  the  government  of  the  national  defence  when 
the  day  of  enlightenment  arrives." 

Thomas  Carlyle,  who  is  the  avowed  advocate  of  abso- 
lute governments,  and  the  opponent  of  government  by 
the  people,  and  who  is  probably  more  famihar  with  Prus- 
sian and  German  politics  than  almost  any  other  man, 
expresses  the  following  views  in  reference  to  the  great 
German  empire  now  rising  into  being.  We  give  his 
words  as  reported  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Moncure  D.  Con- 
way, dated  London,  Oct.  25,  and  published  in  "  The 
Cincinnati  Commercial :  "  — 

"  I  have  just  passed  an  evening,"  writes  Mr.  Conway, 
"  with  Thomas  Carlyle.  Long  ago,  he  recognized  '  mag- 
nanimous Herr  Bismarck,'  as  he  called  him,  as  a  man 
after  his  own  heart,  and  as  the  '  coming  man  '  of  the 
fatherland.  As  you  may  judge,  recent  events  have  only 
increased  his  enthusiasm  for  Germany,  and  his  esteem 
for  Bismarck. 

"  With  regard  to  Count  Bismarck,  he  said,  '  All  the 
politicians  in  the  world  seem  to  me  as  mere  windbags 
beside  him.  He  has  shown  himself  capable  of  throwing 
himself  utterly  into  his  cause ;  and  all  other  causes  are 
simply  insignificant  in  comparison  with  his,  —  the  build- 
ing-up of  a  great  genuine  power  and  government  in 
Europe  out  of  the  only  solid  materials  left  in  it;  for, 
really,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  true  principles  of  order 
and  government  have  almost  disappeared  from  Europe, 
were  it  not  for  Germany.' 

"■  Speaking  of  the  destiny  of  Germany,.  Carlyle  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  it  was  inevitable  that  it  would 
become  speedily  consolidated,  and  that  the  chief,  more 
particularly  the  German  portions  of  Austria  would,  a 


300  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

little  later  perhaps,  be  united  with  the  rest  of  Germany. 
He  anticipated  that  the  influence  of  such  a  Germany 
would  be  infallibly  peaceful.  '  The  very  name  of  the 
German  indicates  how  strong  he  has  already  been  in 
war.     German  means  only  guerre-man,  or  war-man.'  " 

Every  day  since  the  commencement  of  the  war,  the 
conflict  has  been  marked  with  increasing  ferocity  on  both 
sides.  This,  of  course,  was  to  have  been  expected.  A 
small  party  of  Prussian  cavalry  came  clattering  into  a 
defenceless  village  near  Rouen,  and  commenced  levying 
some«petty  exactions  from  the  people.  Wliile  thus  en- 
gaged, a  body  of  French  cavalry  rode  suddenly  in,  fired 
upon  them,  and  killed  several.  The  rest  sprang  to  their 
horses,  and  escaped.  The  next  day,  the  Prussians  re- 
appeared with  re-enforcements  numbering  six  hundred 
men,  and  with  two  cannon.  Ascending  a  neighboring 
eminence,  they  bombarded  the  town  until  it  was  laid  in 
ashes,  and  then  turned  their  guns  upon  the  two  neigh- 
boring villages  of  H^ricourt  and  Le  Fresnoy,  which  they 
also  demohshed.  While  engaged  in  this  work,  a  party 
of  French  sharpshooters  rapidly  gathered,  and  placed 
themselves  in  ambush,  to  assail  them  as  they  retired ; 
and  this  they  did  with  a  fire  so  deadly,  that  twenty-six 
wagons  were  required  to  carry  ofp  the  slain. 

"  Every  thing,"  writes  a  correspondent  from  Havre 
to  "  The  Boston  Journal,"  "  leads  me  to  believe  that 
the  Prussians  are  now  becoming  unduly  ferocious. 
They  meet  a  more  decided  resistance  than  heretofore, 
and  revenge  themselves  on  any  one  they  catch.  Their 
mode  of  procedure  is  to  tie  any  unfortunate  fellow  they 
catch  on  the  road  by  the  wrists  with  a  rope,  which  they 
attach  to  the  pommels  of  their  saddles.  If  one  dragoon 
succeeds  in  arresting  half  a  dozen,  he  ties  them  all  in 


THE   GERMANIC    EMPIRE.  301 

this  wa}',  and  brings  them  in,  dragging  them  at  the  ani- 
mal's heels  with  the  same  exultation  that  an  Indian  would 
parade  so  many  scalps.  A  hasty  trial,  in  which  there 
are  only  two  or  three  formulas,  is  hurried  through ;  and 
the  nearest  thicket  answers  for  a  place  of  execution. 
This  is  to  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  all  the  civilians 
who  desire  to  arm  themselves.  At  the  town  of  Ar- 
mentieres,  a  perfectl}'^  trustworthy  eye-witness,  recently 
returned  from  Rouen,  declares  that  he  saw  this  sad 
spectacle.  J\Icn,  pale  with  rage,  were  trying  in  vain 
to  extinguish  the  fires  that  were  burning  down  their 
houses  ;  women,  in  despair,  had  thrown  themselves  on 
the  ground,  trying  to  cover  their  screaming  childi'en 
with  their  bodies,  and  huddling  around  them  the  frag- 
ments of  their  wretched  furniture,  which  they  had 
dragged  from  the  flames  ;  one  old  woman,  eighty-four 
years  old,  was  screaming  to  l)e  taken  out  of  a  l)urning 
house,  and  her  son  tore  his  hair  as  he  tried  in  vain  to 
drag  the  smouldering  l)eams  from  her  aged  limbs  ;  and 
one  villager,  a  tremendous  athlete,  was  so  overcome 
with  anger  and  sorrow,  that  he  expired  from  apoplexy 
in  the  midst  of  his  four  widowed  children.  Meantime 
the  hideous  projectiles  continued  to  fall,  as  by  and  by 
they  will  fall  on  dear  old  Paris  and  all  the  familia? 
haunts,  to  baptize  in  blood  the  new  republic.  One 
of  the  incidents  of  this  avenging  bombardment  had 
sinister  consequences.  Four  men  stood  up  together 
amid  the  ruins  of  their  burned  and  blackened  houses, 
and  swore  each  to  kill  a  Prussian  before  the  next  sun- 
set. Four  lancers  were  found  dead  near  each  other  on 
the  high  road  from  Armcntieres  to  Ilericourt  the  next 
day.  Extravagant  as  this  may  seem,  it  is  strictly  true 
To  amuoc  themselves  as  they  were  returning  liouic,  tiie 


302  HISTORY    OF   PRUSSIA. 

Prussians  took  a  dozen  stout  peasants  whom  they  found 
repairing  a  bridge  over  a  road  whereon  French  troops 
were  expected  to  pass,  and  gave  them  each  twenty-five 
lashes  on  their  bare  backs,  —  so  mangling  them,  that 
none  could  stand  alone  after  it." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  number  the  French  cities 
which  were  exposed  to  the  horrors  of  bombardment ; 
and  no  one  who  has  not  witnessed  the  spectacle  can 
form  any  conception  of  the  terror  and  horror  of  the 
scene.  An  immense  projectile,  weighing  from  one  to 
two  hundred  pounds,  rises  majestically  into  the  air,  and 
then,  with  a  terrific  noise,  rushes  headlong  towards  the 
ground,  bursting  as  it  strikes  with  a  loud  explosion,  scat- 
tering ruin  in  all  directions.  Ponderous  walls  crumble 
before  these  thunderbolts  of  war.  Massive  buildings  are 
demolished  by  them.     There  is  no  safety  anywhere. 

There  is  much  more  of  sincere  piety  among  many  of 
the  peasantry  and  the  liumble  orders  in  France  than 
is  generally  supposed  in  Protestant  countries.  When 
Strasburg  was  enduring  the  agony  of  bombardment, 
one  who  was  present,  sharing  the  peril  and  the  terror, 
describes  the  scene  as  follows  :  — 

"  At  a  quarter  before  nine  last  night,  the  bombard- 
ment began.  From  that  time  until  eight  o'clock  this 
morning  (eleven  hours),  the  firing  did  not  cease.  It 
was  one  continuous  roaring,  —  a  rushing  and  whistling 
of  missiles  in  the  air,  followed  by  the  crashing  of  cliirn- 
neys,  and,  from  time  to  time,  cries  of  misery  and  terror. 
The  night  was  very  dark.  It  rained ;  and  it  was  impos- 
sible, standing  on  the  ramparts,  to  distinguish  the 
position  of  the  hostile  batteries,  which  were  placed 
behind  some  building,  or  protected  by  the  scarp  of  the 
railroad ;  and  they  were  thus  enabled  to  carry  on  their 


THE   GERMANIC    EMPIRE.  30,3 

work  of  destruction  uiiptiiiisbed.  Our  people  at>k  v  hat 
this  treatment  signifies.  .  .  .  Our  enemies  know  that 
there  are  eighty  thousand  inhabitants  in  the  city,  a 
harmless  population,  —  childi-en,  trembling  mothers ;  that 
the  city  is  full  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  who  are  thus 
robbed  of  invigorating  sleep,  or  whose  death  they  ac- 
celerate. It  is  not  possible  to  give  an  estimate  of  the 
damage  done  to  innumerable  buildings  during  the  night. 
We  should  have  to  record  nearly  every  street  in  the 
city ;  and,  in  some  streets,  nearly  all  the  houses.  The 
shells  came  from  all  sides,  and  into  all  quarters  of  the 
city. 

"  The  shells  fell  by  tens  and  hundreds  in  one  and  the 
same  street.  As  soon  as  one  house  was  set  on  fire,  shell 
after  shell  was  poured  in  upon  the  flames,  preventing 
the  work  of  the  firemen.  The  whole  city  is  covered 
with  ruins :  the  roofs,  chimneys,  and  facades  are  de- 
stroyed on  all  sides." 

Such  are  the  scenes  which  are  now,  as  we  write  these 
lines,  continually  transpiring  in  France.  It  is,  indeed, 
incomprehensible  that  a  loving  God  can  look  calmly 
down  in  the  permission  of  such  enormities.  While  the 
city  was  shaken,  and  blazing  beneath  this  terrific  tempest 
of  war,  the  pastor  of  the  Church  of  St.  Thomas  issued 
the  following  notice  to  his  flock:  — 

"  If  the  dear  God  spare  our  life,  a  prayer-service  will 
be  held  Sunday  morning  at  half-past  nine  :  if  not,  dear 
fathers  and  mothers,  perform  the  religious  deities  your- 
selves, amid  your  own  families.  Read  a  hymn  from  the 
hymn-book,  a  chapter  from  the  Bible.  The  God  of  old 
still  lives  :  call  on  liiiu  in  your  need.  And,  though  Imdy 
and  soul  languish,  we  will  still  remain  true  to  him,  and 
thank  him  ;  for  he  is  our  Helper  and  our  God." 


304  HISTORY   OF   PRUSSIA. 

The  general  course  pursued  by  the  Prussians  upon 
the  capture  of  a  town  is  described  by  all  correspondents 
as  follows:  A  certain  number  of  soldiers  are  imme- 
diately marched  into  the  place.  These  generally  arrive 
towards  evening,  after  a  day's  march,  hungry  and  cross. 
The  mayor  is  sent  for,  and  informed  that  so  many 
cattle,  so  many  bushels  of  grain,  and  so  much  wine, 
must  be  immediately  furnished.  The  requisition  usually 
amounts  to  very  much  more  than  it  would  be  possible 
for  the  place  to  furnish.  The  trembling  mayor  collects 
every  thing  he  can.  The  soldiers  are  billeted  in  the 
different  houses :  the  horses  are  often  stabled  in  the 
church  and  town-hall.  The  Prussian  flag  is  hoisted ; 
and  the  slightest  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  conqueror 
draws  down  upon  the  inhabitants  the  severest  punish- 
ment. The  soldiers  must  be  fed,  though  women  and 
children  starve. 

There  were,  occasionally,  amusing  events  in  the  midst 
of  these  scenes  of  woe.  The  Prussians,  emboldened 
by  victory,  often  resorted  to  measures  of  astonishing 
audacity.  It  is  said  that  the  Mayor  of  Fontainebleau 
had  gathered  the  city  council  around  him,  and  was 
vigorously  passing  war-measures,  when  the  clatter  of  a 
squadron  of  horsemen  was  heard  in  the  court3^ard. 
The  leader  of  this  cavalcade  of  forty  men  leaped  from 
his  horse,  and,  armed  to  the  teeth,  entered  the  council- 
chamber,  and  demanded  the  keys  of  the  city. 

"•  We  hjive  no  keys,"  the  mayor  calmly  replied. 
"  Fontainebleau  is  an  open  town." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  the  dragoon,  "  let  us  know  where 
we  can  lodge  ;  and  prepare  at  once  the  necessary  rations 
for  thirty  thousand  men,  who  are  only  a  few  hours  be- 
hind." 


THE   GERMANIC   EMPIRE.  305 

"  All  riglit,"  said  the  ma3^or  ;  and  then,  turning  to  the 
council,  added,  *'  Let  us  conduct  these  gentlemen  to  the 
chateau,  since  we  must ;  and  there  we  can  provide  thum 
with  stabling  and  lodging." 

The  party  immediately  left  for  the  magnificent 
chateau,  a  world-renowned  edifice  associated  with 
many  of  the  most  extraordinary  events  in  French  his- 
tory. The  dragoons  were  conducted  into  the  court- 
yard ;  and,  while  feeding  their  horses,  the  gates  were 
suddenly  closed.  The  mayor  on  the  outside,  looking 
through  the  iron  railing,  said,  "  Gentlemen,  you  are  my 
prisoners  :  try  and  make  yourselves  at  home."  The 
dragoons  were  in  a  terrible  rage,  uttered  fearful  threats 
of  vengeance  to  be  inflicted  so  soon  as  their  troops 
should  come  up,  and  refused  to  surrender. 

"  Very  well,"  the  mayor  replied,  "  your  poor  beasts 
shall  not  suffer  ;  but  you  shall  not  have  one  morsel  of 
bread  until  you  lay  down  your  arms,  and  yield  your- 
selves as  prisoners.  When  the  thirty  thousand  troops 
come,  we  will  surrender  to  them,,  but  not  to  forty 
di'agoons." 

In  two  hours  the  dragoons  surrendered,  and  were 
sent  to  a  safe  place  within  the  French  lines.  The 
thirty  thousand  troops  did  not  come. 

In  conclusion,  let  us  reflect  upon  the  following  historic 
facts,  which  probably  no  intelligent  reader  will  con- 
trovert :  — 

1.  Prussia,  or  rather  Count  Bismarck,  who  repre- 
sented Prussia,  some  years  ago  formed  the  project  of 
re-organizing  Germany  into  a  vast  empire  founded  u\)on 
the  divine  right  of  kings  to  rule,  and  of  the  duly  of  the 
people  to  be  ruled. 

20 


306  HISTOEY   OF   PRUSSIA. 

2.  In  the  accomplishment  of  this  plan,  the  treaties  of 
1815,  which  Prussia  had  sworn  to  respect,  were  entirely 
disregarded  and  overthrown. 

3.  By  diplomacy  and  war,  Prussia  suddenly  rose  from 
a  nation  of  about  fifteen  millions  to  a  nation  numbering 
forty  millions,  with  every  able-bodied  man  a  trained 
soldier,  constituting  a  military  power  unsurpassed  by 
that  of  any  other  nation. 

4.  France  could  easily  have  prevented  this  expansion 
by  uniting  with  Austria,  as  M.  Thiers  urged  the  im- 
perial government  to  do.  This  union  would  inevitably 
have  crushed  Prussia  at  Sadowa,  and  would  have  saved 
France  from  the  ruin  in  which  she  is  now  involved. 

5.  The  imperial  government  refused  thus  to  oppose 
the  unification  of  Germany,  declaring  that  the  Ger- 
mans had  a  right  to  manage  their  own  affairs,  and  that 
it  was  desirable  for  the  prosperity  of  Germany  that  its 
fragmentary  States  should  be  consolidated  into  one  na- 
tion. 

6.  This  consolidation  being  thus  effected,  the  imperial 
government  in  France  asked,  that,  in  consideration  of 
its  assent  to  the  unification  of  Germany,  Prussia  should 
surrender  to  France  those  Renish  provinces  on  the 
French  side  of  the  Rhine  which  had  been  wrested  from 
her  by  the  treaties  of  1815,  and  placed  in  the  hands 
of  Prussia,  —  provinces  which  France  deemed,  in  the 
altered  state  of  affairs,  essential  to  her  independence ; 
qualifying,  however,  the  request  with  the  provision,  that 
the  people  of  those  provinces  should  decide  by  vote 
whether  they  would  return  to  France,  or  would  remain 
with  Prussia. 

7.  Prussia  peremptorily  refused  this  proposition,  but, 
xecoiT-nizing  in   a   measure   the   reasonableness   of  the 


THE    GERMAN  lU    EMI'lUE.  307 

demand,  proposed,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the 
French  and  English  ambassadors,  that  France  shoukl 
extend  her  frontier  to  the  Rhine  by  seizing  upon  Bel- 
gium.    Tliis  proposition  France  instantly  rejected. 

8.  France  tlien  proposed  to  all  the  crowned  heads  of 
Europe  that  a  congress  should  be  called  to  reconstruct 
the  boundaries  of  the  nations,  so  that  the  agitating 
questions  then  arising,  menacing  Europe  with  war, 
should  be  settled  by  an  appeal  to  reason,  and  not  by  the 
sword.     This  pacific  plan  was  rejected. 

9.  Prussia,  while  France  was  thus  trembling  in  view 
of  her  peril  in  having  the  immense  fortresses  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine  in  the  hands  of  so  formidable  a 
power,  and  leaving  the  gateway  of  France  wide  open 
to  German  invasion,  endeavored  by  secret  intrigue  to 
place  a  German  prince  upon  the  throne  of  Spain.  This 
would  convert  Spain  into  a  German  province,  re-creating 
the  old  German  empire  of  Charles  V.  Thus  France 
would  find  herself  powerless,  exposed  to  be  crushed  by 
Germany  at  her  leisure, 

10.  All  France  was  alarmed.  Imperialists,  monarch- 
ists, and  republicans  alike  shared  in  the  general  agita- 
tion. Prussia  was  informed  that  France  could  not 
consent  to  the  conversion  of  Spain  into  a  province  of 
Germany  by  placing  the  Spanish  crown  upon  the  brow 
of  a  German  prince. 

11.  Prussia  consented  to  withdraw  Prince  Leopold, 
to  whom,  as  a  man,  France  had  no  objection,  but  peremp- 
torily (France  says  insultingly)  refused-  to  give  any 
assurance  that  she  woidd  not  place  some  other  German 
prince  upon  the  Spanish  throne. 

12.  Thus  menaced,  the  people  of  France  exclaimed 
with  one  voice,  that  it  had  become  essential  to  the  indo- 


308  HISTORY  OF  PKUSSIA. 

pendence  of  France  that  she  should  rechiim  her  ancient 
boundary  of  the  Rhine.  The  uprising  of  the  whole 
nation,  of  men  of  Ihe  most  antagonistic  parties,  in 
this  demand,  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  an  act  of  frivolity, 
but  as  a  deep  conviction,  pervading  the  entire  of 
France,  that  the  independence  of  the  nation  was  im- 
perilled. 

13.  It  is  manifest  that  Count  Bismarck,  who  represents 
Prussia,  was  aware  that  the  measures  he  was  adopting 
would  lead  to  war;  that  he  desired  war;  that  he  had 
made  the  most  ample  preparations  for  war ;  and  that  the 
results  have,  thus  far,  been  just  what  he  hoped  to 
accomplish.  Prussia  retains  the  provinces  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine,  crushes  the  military  power  of 
France,  and  seizes  upon  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  thus  in- 
creasing her  territory,  multiplying  her  fortresses,  and 
commanding  both  banks  of  the  Rhine  from  Belgium  to 
Switzerland. 

14.  One  of  the  last  telegrams  which  has  crossed  the 
Atlantic,  as  we  write  these  lines,  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  Intelligence  from  Brussels  gives  the  assurances  that 
Prussia  is  fully  resolved  to  annex  Luxembui-g,  upon  the 
ground  that  Luxemburg  is  essential  to  render  Lorraine 
strategically  useful." 

No  intelligent  man  doubts  that  similar  considerations 
will  lead  speedily  to  the  positive  or  the  virtual  annexa- 
tion of  both  Belgium  and  Holland.  The  grandeur  of 
the  Germanic  Empire  seems  to  leave  them  both  at  her 
mercy. 

15.  The  action  of  the  democratic  leaders  in  the  great 
cities,  in  taking  advantage  of  the  Prussian  invasion,  and 
of  the  captivity  of  the  emperor,  to  seize  upon  the  reins 
of  power,  operates  in  many  respects  very  disastrous! v- 


TOE    r.ERMAXIC    EMTTRE.  300 

The  empire  was  the  choice  of  the  French  people.  The 
democratic  party  in  Paris,  Lyons,  and  Marseilles,  com- 
posed of  an  incongruous  mass  of  moderate  republicans, 
red  republicans,  and  socialists,  in  deadly  hostility  to 
each  other,  has  not  the  confidence  of  the  people  of 
France.  They  cannot  with  entlmsiasm  rally  around 
usurpers,  who  in  the  hour  of  disaster  have  grasped 
power,  unsustained  by  either  the  old  feudal  doctrine 
of  divine  right,  or  by  the  modern  doctrine  of  popular 
suffrage. 

16.  France  is  effectually  cut  off  by  this  action  of 
the  democratic  leaders  from  any  alliance  with  any  other 
power.  Prussia  refuses  to  recognize  these  committees 
even  enough  to  treat  with  them.  England,  Italy,  Aus- 
tria, all  tremble  in  view  of  the  enormous  encroachments 
of  Prussia ;  but  not  one  of  these  powers  can  interfere 
in  behalf  of  anarchic  France.  The  British  Government 
will  not  enter  into  an  alliance  with  a  self-constituted 
democratic  committee  in  Paris.  Victor  Emanuel  can- 
not lend  his  armies  to  build  up  a  democracy  in  France, 
which  has  overthrown  the  empire,  to  which  he  is  in- 
debted for  the  crown  of  Italy, — a  democracy  whose  first 
attempt,  in  case  of  success,  would  be  to  demolish  his 
throne,  and  erect  upon  the  ruins  an  Italian  republic. 
Spain,  which  lias  rejected  a  republic  and  voted  for  a 
monarchy,  and  which  has  placed  a  son  of  Victor  Eman- 
uel upon  her  throne,  refusing  to  recognize  the  committee 
for  national  defence  as  the  government  of  France,  can- 
not be  expected  to  cross  the  Pyrenees  with  her  armies 
to  aid  in  consolidating  a  government  which  Spain  has 
refused  to  acknowledge.  And  Austria  is  the  last  nation 
on  tlie  continent  of  Europe  to  be  fighting  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  democracy  in  France. 


310  HISTOr.Y   OF  PRUSSIA. 

17.  Thus  the  disastrous  overthrow  of  the  repub- 
lican empire  in  these  hours  of  misfortune  and  dis- 
may —  a  government  which  was  acknowledged  and 
respected  by  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  and  which  was 
established  and  sustained  by  the  overwhelming  majori- 
ty of  the  French  people  —  seems  to  doom  France  to 
irretrievable  destruction.  There  is  no  cordial  union  at 
home,  there  is  nothing  to  be  hoped  for  from  abroad. 

18.  France,  under  the  empire,  has  for  twenty  years 
been  one  of  the  most  prosperous,  influential,  and  happy 
nations  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  All  the  arts  of 
industry  have  flourished;  the  most  magnificent  works 
of  internal  improvement  liave  been  constructed ;  and  the 
nation  has  been  advancing  with  rapidity  never  before 
experienced  in  education,  wealth,  and  power.  Paris 
has  been  one  of  the  most  orderly,  well-regulated,  and 
attractive  cities  on  the  globe.  The  most  refined"  and 
wealthy  families  from  all  nations  have  there  found  a 
happy  home.  Could  France  but  hope  that  the  next 
twenty  years  would  be  like  the  last,  she  would  be  happy 
indeed. 

Suddenly  a  moral  earthquake  has  come ;  and  all 
France  presents  the  aspect  of  consternation,  ruin,  and 
woe.  More  than  half  a  million  of  invaders  arc:  sweeping 
over  her  territory,  leaving  behind  them  famine,  smould- 
ering ruins,  and  fields  crimsoned  with  blood.  There  is 
no  recognized  government  in  France  which  Europe  will 
acknowledge,  or  around  which  the  French  people  are 
willing  to  rally.  A  darker  hour  than  that  which,  at  the 
close  of  the  year  1870,  spreads  its  gloom  over  France, 
few  nations  upon  this  globe  have  ever  experienced. 
The  world  looks  on  with  wonder  to  see  what  results 


THE   GERMANIC    EMPIRE.  311 

God  designs  to  evolve  from  these  scenes  of  ruin  and  of 
wretchedness.  \yiicn  may  we  hope  that  the  prayer 
wliich  our  Saviour  has  taught  us  will  be  answered?  — 

'•''  Tliy  kingdom  come  ;  Thy  ivill  he  done,  in  earth  as  in 
hi-aveny 


CHAPTER    XXV. 


THE    SIEGE    OF    PAEIS. 


'HE  empire  in  France  was  a  republican 
empire,  founded  upon  universal  suffrage, 
recognizing  the  right  of  the  people  to  or- 
ganize their  own  form  of  government, 
abolishing  all  aristocratic  privilege  and  all 
feudal  immunities,  and  establishing  the 
doctrine  of  equal  rights  for  all  men.  Not- 
withstanding its  attempt  to  conciliate  Europe  by  its 
adoption  of  monarchical  forms,  and  its  disavowal  of  any 
design  to  disturb  other  governments  by  inciting  demo- 
cratic insuiTections,  its  entu-e  renunciation  of  "  leaiti- 
macy"  and  of  "privilege"  rendered  it  obnoxious  to 
dynastic  Europe.  If  the  people  of  France  might  choose 
their  own  sovereign,  adopt  such  form  of  government  as 
pleased  them,  frame  their  own  constitution,  and  enact 
and  execute  their  own  laws,  why  might  not  the  people 
of  England,  Prussia,  Austria,  demand  the  same  right  ? 

Still  there  was  embarrassment.  In  France  there  were 
essentiallj^  three  parties :  1.  The  old  feudal  party  of 
legitimacy.  2.  The  compromise  party  of  the  empire. 
3.  The  democratic  party,  in  its  various  shades  of  mod- 
erates, radicals,  and  communists.  The  overthrow  of 
the  empire  might  not  re-introduce  the  old  feudal  reyime 

312 


THE   SIEGE   OF   TARIS.  313 

under  the  Bourbons,  or  its  somewhat  modified  spirit 
under  the  Orleanists,  but  might  possibly  be  succeeded 
by  some  form  of  democracy  under  avowed  and  deadly 
hostility  to  every  European  throne  :  therefore  the  dy- 
nasties reluctantly  tolerated  the  empire,  fearing  that  its 
overthrow  might  lead  to  something  worse. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Count  Bismarck 
formed  the  plan  of  re-organizing  the  ancient  German  Em- 
pire upon  the  basis  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  the 
exclusive  privileges  of  nobles.  Only  such  modifications 
of  the  old  feudal  refjimes  were  submitted  to  as  the 
changed  state  of  the  times  rendered  inevitable.  The 
avowed  object  of  this  movement  was  to  head  off  and 
crush  out  the  sentiment  of  popular  rights,  which  was 
gradually  being  disseminated  throughout  Europe.  Count 
Bismarck  and  King  William  were  in  entire  harmony  in 
this  aim ;  and  they  prosecuted  their  enterprise  with 
sagacity,  energy,  and  success,  which  has  astonished  the 
world. 

It  is  said  that  revolutions  never  roll  backwards.  Per- 
haps they  do  not ;  but  here  there  is  an  apparent  reflex 
flow  of  the  most  appalling  kind.  This  gigantic  German 
Empire,  formed,  not  by  the  people  of  Germany,  but  by 
the  twenty-five  German  princes  who  hold  their  ofiices 
by  divine  right,  and  who  have  combined  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  empire,  can  instantly  silence,  throughout 
all  Germany,  any  voice  which  may  dare  to  speak  in  favor 
of  popular  rights. 

Still  it  may  prove  to  be  an  excellent  government.  It 
may  be  that  the  German  people  are  like  children,  who 
cannot  be  safely  trusted  with  the  management  of  their 
own  affairs.  It  is  for  the  interest  of  the  emperor  and 
his  associate  kings  and  princes  to  seek  the  prosperity 


314  HISTORY    OF  PRUSSIA. 

and  happiness  of  tlieir  several  peoples.  In  tlieir  com- 
bined action  they  are  certainly  so  strong,  that  they 
can  easily  and  instantly  crush  out  any  attempt  at  a 
popular  uprishig  in  any  portion  of  their  realms.  It 
is  also  very  certain  that  a  democratic  government  may . 
he  very  corrupt,  oppressive,  and  ruinous.  Tiiis  holy 
alliance  of  the  princes  of  Germany  in  a  consolidated 
empire  will  undoubtedly  secure  Germany  from  revolu- 
tions for  many  years  to  come ;  and  may,  perhaps,  confer 
upon  the  people  blessings,  which,  under  present  circum- 
stances, could  not  be  attained  in  any  other  way. 

The  power  of  this  new  and  majestic  empire  is  con- 
trolled by  the  emperor  and  the  associate  princes.  There 
are  three  bodies  recognized  in  the  government :  1.  The 
Emperor.  The  crown  is  hereditary  in  the  person  of  the 
King  of  Prussia,  who  is  almost  the  absolute  sovereign 
in  his  own  realm.  2.  The  Imperial  Council.  This  con- 
sists of  the  twenty-five  princes  of  various  degrees  of 
power  and  dignity,  whose  realms  constitute  united  Ger- 
many. Their  votes  are  in  accordance  with  the  extent 
and  population  of  their  domains :  the  King  of  Prussia 
has  seventeen  votes,  —  one-third  of  all ;  Bavaria  casts  six 
votes  \  Saxony  and  Wurtemberg,  four  each  ;  Baden  and 
Hesse,  three;  Mecklenburg,  Schwerin,  and  Brunswick, 
two;  the  rest,  one  each.  The  princes  are  all  hereditary 
legislators,  ruling  by  right  of  birth  or  divine  right. 
3.  There  is  a  third  body,  called  the  Reichstag.  It  con- 
sists of  three  hundred  and  eight3^-two  members,  chosen 
by  universal  suffrage,  —  one  deputy  for  each  hundred 
thousand  of  the  population.  This  gives  Prussia  two 
hundred  and  forty  members,  —  nearly  two-thirds  of  the 
whole. 

It  seems  rather  hard  for  France,  that  as  the  reward 


THE   SIEGE  OF   PARIS.  315 

for  her  having  consented  to  the  unification  of  Germany, 
wliich  she  could  easily  have  prevented,  she  should  Ije 
trampled  so  mercilessly  beneath  the  feet  of  that  gigantic 
empire.  Pere  Hyacinthe  said,  in  a  speech  in  London 
the  latter  part  of  December,  1870, — 

"  Justice  has  been  denied  the  second  empire  ;  for  that 
government  made  the  unity  of  Italy,  and  caused  that  of 
Germany.  It  was  a  generous  policy,  well  expressed  by 
Napoleon  III.,  during  the  Italian  campaign,  in  these 
words :  '  Every  one  knows  that  before  the  flag  of  France 
there  goes  a  great  idea,  and  l)ehind  it  a  great  people.'  "  ^ 

On  the  11th  of  August,  1870,  as  the  Germanic  legions 
were  pouring  into  France,  King  William  issued  a  proc- 
lamation, addressed  "  To  the  French  Nation,"  dated  at 
Saarbriick,  in  which  he  said,  "  Prussia  wars,  not  on 
France,  but  on  Bonaparte."  To  Napoleon  personally 
he  had  no  objections :  they  were  friends.  It  was  the 
republican  empire  to  which  he  was  opposed.  But 
when  the  imperial  army  was  overthrown,  and  Napoleon 
was  a  prisoner,  and  "  the  gentlemen  of  the  pavement  of 
Paris,"  as  Bismarck  designated  them,  had  seized  upon 


1  In  a  sermon  preached  by  the  Rev.  0.  B.  Frothingham,  and  reported  in  the 
New- York  Herald  of  Jan.  2, 1871,  we  find  the  following  striking  remarks:  — 

"  We  examine  French  imperialism,  and  we  find  that  we  cannot  condemn  it 
more  than  other  imperialisms  in  history.  You  say  that  the  country  was  licen- 
tious: there  wfis  not  so  much  licentiousness  in  France  under  Napoleon  III.  as 
under  Louis  XIV.  or  Louis  XV.  You  say  the  empire  was  extravagance:  the 
cost  of  governing  France  for  the  last  ten  years  was  not  so  much  as  for  five  years 
imder  Louis'  reign.  It  costs  no  more  to  keep  Paris  clean  than  to  keep  New 
York  dirty.  The  empire  was  peace,  order,  and  prosperity.  You  say  the 
emperor  wa,s  a  tyrant :  he  was  elected  by  the  people.  You  say  that  the  elec- 
tion was  not  a  fair  one,  and  that  the  ballot-boxes  were  stufled:  the  ballot-boxes 
arc  stulled  in  New  York.  In  spite  of  cavil,  Napoleon  submitted  the  question 
of  imperialism  to  the  people  four  times;  and  four  times  the  people  said,  'Rule 
over  us.'  The  empire  was  splendor:  the  glory  of  Paris  wa.s  the  glory  of  tho 
world." 


316  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

the  reins  of  government,  —  thus  transferring  the  supreme 
power,  not  back  to  the  old  regime^  but  forward  to  the 
democracy  of  the  cities,  —  then  Bismarck  and  King  Wil- 
liam were  alarmed  ;  and  they  would  gladly  have  re- 
instated Napoleon  upon  the  throne,  after  having  wrested 
from  France  both  banks  of  the  Rhine,  from  Belgium  to 
Switzerland.  France  thus  deprived  of  any  natural 
boundary,  with  Germany  in  possession  of  the  whole  val- 
ley of  the  Rhine  and  of  the  majestic  fortresses  which 
frown  along  its  shores,  was  entkely  at  the  mercy  of 
Germany.  At  any  hour  the  German  legions  could  rush 
into  France  from  these  vast  ramparts  ;  while  at  the  same 
time  the  Rhine  and  its  fortresses  presented  an  impassable 
barrier  against  any  advance  of  the  French  troops  into 
the  new  empire. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  became  quite  manifest 
that  it  was  the  policy  of  the  German  conquerors  to  re- 
store Napoleon  to" his  throne,  after  having  so  weakened 
France  that  she  would  be  powerless  in  the  hands  of  her 
victors.  And  it  was  cruelly  reported  that  the  Emperor 
of  France  was  willing  so  to  submit  to  such  humiliation 
as  to  allow  himself  to  be  carried  back  to  the  Tuileries 
by  the  arms  of  the  conquering  Prussians.  The  emper- 
or, with  great  good  sense,  had  quietly  submitted  to  his 
fate ;  for  it  had  ever  been  one  of  the  fundamental  prmci- 
ples  of  his  belief,  that  he  was  borne  along  by  providences 
over  which  he  had  but  little  control.  Prosperity  did 
not  elate  him  ;  adversity  did  not  depress  him.  But,  as 
the  rumors  of  his  plottings  to  regain  the  throne  by  some 
military  stratagem  became  widely  diffused,  he,  on  the 
12th  of  December,  1870,  authorized,  from  his  imprison- 
ment at  Wilhelmshohe,  the  following  statement  to  be 
made :  — 


TDE   SIEGE  OF   PARIS.  317 

"  It  would  be  quite  well  if  it  were  j)ublicly  understood 
that  I  never  intend  to  remount  the  throne  on  the  strength 
of  a  military  pronunciamento,  by  the  aid  of  the  soldiery, 
just  as  little  as  by  that  of  Prussia.  I  am  the  sole  sover- 
eign in  Europe  who  governs,  next  to  the  grace  of  God, 
by  the  will  of  the  people  ;  and  I  shall  never  be  unfaith- 
ful to  the  origin  of  either.  The  whole  people,  which 
has  four  times  approved  of  my  election,  must  recall  me 
by  its  deliberate  votes,  else  I  shall  never  return  to 
France.  The  army  possesses  no  more  right  to  place  me 
on  the  throne  than  had  the  lawyers  or  loafers  to  push 
me  from  it.  The  French  people,  whose  sovereign  I  am, 
has  the  sole  decision."  ^ 

Count  Bismarck  has  testified  to  the  cordial  assent 
which  France  gave  to  the  unification  of  Germany,  and 
that  Prussia  had  no  fears  that  France  would  take  any 
dishonorable  advantage  of  the  war  between  Prussia  and 
Austria  to  regain  her  lost  boundary  of  the  Rhine.  It 
was  always  the  desire  of  the  imperial  government,  in 
accordance  with  its  declaration  that  "  the  empire  is 
peace,"  to  avoid  all  war,  and  to  obtain  a  rectification  of 
its  boundaries  by  "  reason,"  and  not  by  "  iron  and  by 
blood." 

In  1866,  when  all  the  military  energies  of  Prussia 
were  concentrated  in  the  march  upon  Sadowa,  Count 
Bismarck  said  to  Mr.  Benedetti,  "  Our  trust  in  the  good 
faith  of  the  French  Government  is  so  firm,  that  we  have 
not  a  sinjxle  soldier  left  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine."  ^ 

As  we  have  mentioned,  France,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  war,  had  but  about  four  hundred  thousand  sol- 

*  Correspondence  of  the  New- York  Herald,  Dec.  30,  1870. 

•  Testimony  of  the  Marquis  de  Gricourt. 


318  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

diers  in  the  field.  Prussia,  all  prepared  for  the  conflict, 
with  her  troops  in  marching-order,  her  rail-cars  for  their 
transportation  all  ready,  and  her  vast  magazines  on  both 
banks  of  the  Rhine  filled  with  the  materiel  of  war,  in- 
stantly, upon  the  declaration  of  hostilities,  sent  into 
France  nearly  a  million  of  men ;  while  another  million 
were  held  in  reserve,  following  in  a  continuous  stream, 
to  take  the  place  of  those  who  fell  in  battle,  and  to 
replenish  the  German  armies  wherever  they  needed  re- 
enforcements. 

The  imperial  troops  of  France,  after  a  few  bloody 
battles,  were  overpowered,  and  all  either  slain  or  cap- 
tured. The  German  hosts  were  so  numerous,  that  on 
every  battle-field  they  could  outnumber  their  foes  by 
two  or  three  to  one.  The  world  probably  never  saw 
braver  and  better  disciplined  soldiers,  more  skilful  com- 
manders, or  better  armaments,  than  the  Germans  brought 
into  the  struggle. 

Having  annihilated  the  imperial  armies,  the  Germans 
had  troops  enough  to  send  four  hundred  thousand  men 
to  lay  siege  to  the  city  of  Paris,  to  besiege  with  over- 
powering numbers  every  fortress  and  walled  city  which 
the  French  still  garrisoned,  and  also  to  send  resistless 
armies  in  all  directions  to  gather  supplies  and  to  im- 
pose contributions  upon  the  people.  The  French  sol- 
diers in  garrison,  and  the  new  recruits  who  were  hur- 
riedly summoned  to  the  field,  fought  valiantly,  but  with 
almost  unvarying  defeat.  Every  day  witnessed  the  tri- 
umph and  the  advance  of  the  German  arms. 

The  sieges  of  some  of  the  walled  towns  were  awful 
beyond  all  imagination,  attended  with  an  appalling  loss 
of  property  and  of  life,  and  an  accumulation  of  misery 
v/Iiich  God  only  can  gauge.     In  the  midst  of  terrific 


THE   SIEOE   OF   PARIS.  319 

bombardments,  sliells  exi)loJing  in  tlie  crowded  streets 
and  in  the  tlii'oni;e<I  dwellings,  conflag'rations  blazed 
forth ;  and  scenes  of  tumult,  dismay,  and  woe,  were  wit- 
nessed, which  could  not  have  been  surpassed  had  fiends 
been  the  agents. 

The  annals  of  war  contain  no  other  record  of  such  a 
career  of  victories  as  attended  the  German  arms.  In 
the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  Strasburg,  Phalsburg,  Toul, 
Vitry  le  Fran^ais,  Verdun,  Metz,  Laon,  Soissons,  Bitche, 
Mclizieres,  Rocroy,  Schelestadt,  Neuf  Brisach,  Thionville, 
Montm(?dy,  Perronne,  Longwy,  and  many  other  places 
of  minor  note,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  invaders. 
Many  of  the  towns  were  military  posts  of  the  first  order. 
The  world  was  astounded  to  see  these  fortresses,  one 
after  another,  crumljling  before  the  batteries  of  the  Ger- 
mans. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  months  sixteen  pitched  battles 
were  fought,  with  often  two  hundred  thousand  men  or 
more  on  either  side.  In  nearly  all  these  battles,  the  Ger- 
mans were  victorious.  If  they  met  with  a  momentary 
repulse,  they  immediately  replenished  their  thinned 
ranks,  and  advanced  again  to  certain  victory.  Besides 
these  general  battles,  there  were  innumerable  minor  con- 
flicts. For  five  months,  there  was  not  an  hour,  by  day 
or  by  night,  in  which,  in  some  part  of  the  vast  lield  swept 
by  these  opposing  hosts,  the  murderous  thunders  of  bat- 
tle were  not  heard. 

One  division  of  the  German  array,  under  Gen.  Von 
Werder,  swept  in  a  broad  path  down  the  eastern  frontiers 
of  France,  scattering  all  opposition,  a  distance  of  two 
hundred  miles,  to  Dijon  and  Chalons.  Another  division, 
un(l(!r  the  Crown  I*niu;e,  Ijatt^ringdown  fortresses,  rout- 
ing armies,  capturing  opulent  towns,  ravaged  the  north- 


320  HISTORY   OP  PRUSSIA. 

era  sections  of  France,  through  the  whole  breadth  of 
the  empire  almost  to  the  English  Channel.  Another 
host,  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  strong,  marching 
directly  beyond  Paris,  bore  their  victorious  banners 
through  many  a  bloody  fight  to  the  banks  of  the  Loire, 
capturing  Orleans  and  Tours,  and  every  other  place  on 
their  lines  of  advance. 

King  WiUiam,  taking  the  magnificent  palace  of  Ver- 
sailles for  his  headquarters,  with  Count  Bismarck  and 
Baron  Moltke  in  his  suite,  invested  Paris  with  four 
hundred  thousand  veteran  troops.  The  city  was  encom- 
passed by  military  lines  thirty  or  forty  miles  in  extent. 
The  investment  was  commenced  on  the  19th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1870  ;  and  was  continued  until  the  25th  of  January, 
1871.  Wherever  there  was  the  least  possibihty  of  the 
beleaguered  garrison  attempting  a  sortie,  ramparts  bris- 
tling with  artillery  and  mitrailleuse  were  thrown  up,  so 
as  to  render  escape  impossible. 

There  were  two  millions  of  inhabitants  within  the 
city,  about  three  hundred  thousand  of  whom  were 
armed.  They  probably  accomplished  all  that,  under 
the  circumstances,  mortal  valor  could  accomphsh.  Week 
after  week  and  month  after  month,  for  one  hundi'ed 
and  thirty  days,  they  beat  off  their  foes.  Gradually  the 
lines  of  the  beleaguering  hosts  drew  nearer.  Three 
several  times,  at  the  head  of  over  one  hundred  thousand 
men,  Gen.  Trochu  endeavored  to  cut  his  way  through 
the  coil  of  batteries  and  ramparts  ever  tightening  around 
him.  The  slaughter  on  both  sides  was  immense.  But 
the  Germans  invariably  held  or  regained  their  positions. 
Every  hour,  hope  in  Paris  grew  fainter;  and  despair 
settled  down  over  the  doomed  city  in  darker  folds. 

Several  armies  Avere   gathered  in   the   provinces   to 


THE   SIEGE   OF   PARIS.  321 

march  for  the  rchef  of  Paris ;  but  they  were  speedily 
overpowered  and  dispersed  by  tlie  Germans.  The  peas- 
antry had  h^ig  been  jealous  of  the  disposition  of  the 
democratic  leaders  in  the  great  cities  to  usurp  the  con- 
trol of  affairs  without  consulting  the  inhabitants  of  the 
riu-al  districts.  The  sudden  and  lawless  overthrow  of 
the  government  which  had  been  established  b}^  the 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  people  of  France,  and  had 
been  maintained  by  them,  by  repeated  votes,  for  more 
than  twent}'  years,  and  the  usurpation  of  the  govern- 
ment by  a  self-appointed  committee  without  the  shadow 
of  constitutional  or  legal  authority,  so  alienated  the  peo- 
ple, that  there  was  no  disposition  to  rise  en  masse  under 
such  leaders,  even  to  assail  the  invading  Prussians. 

The  Bourbonis'ts,  the  Orleanists,  the  Imperialists,  the 
Red  Republicans,  and  the  Communists  were  alike  opposed 
to  those  "gentlemen  of  the  pavement,"  as  Bismarck 
scornfully  termed  them,  who,  some  in  Paris  and  some  in 
Tours,  called  themselves  "the  Committee  of  National 
Defence."  Under  these  circumstances,  there  was  no 
hope  of  the  vigorous  uprising  of  the  nation.  The  dem- 
ocratic party,  which  was  mainly  confined  to  the  great 
cities,  was  divided  into  three  quite  distinct  and  bitterly 
hostile  sections,  —  the  Moderate  Republicans,  the  Red 
Republicans,  and  the  Socialists.  Notwithstanding  the 
pressure  of  the  war,  these  factions  in  Paris  conspired 
against  each  other ;  and  there  were  frequent  scenes  of 
insurrection  and  bloodshed. 

To  add  to  the  gloom  of  the  condition,  there  was  not 
a  single  nation  in  Europe  who  manifested  any  sympathy 
for  the  anarchic  committees  who  assumed  to  govern 
France  ;  not  one  who  would  cordially  recognize  them  as 
a  government,  or  enter  into    any   dijilomatic    relations 

21 


322  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

with  them  ;  not  one  which  did  not  apparently  feel  that 
Europe  had  more  to  dread  from  the  establishment  of 
such  a  regime  in  Paris,  antagonistic  to  every  surrounding 
monarchy,  than  even  from  the  enormous  encroachments 
of  Prussian  absolutism,  which,  though  it  threatened  to 
dominate  over  all  Europe,  would  lend  its  influence  in 
every  kingdom  to  arrest  the  rising  tide  of  democracy. 

So  heroic,  notwithstanding  all  these  discouragements, 
was  the  defence  of  the  inexperienced  young  soldiers  in 
Paris,  that  the  Prussians  did  not  succeed  until  the  9th 
of  January  in  planting  any  batteries  sufficiently  near  to 
throw  shells  over  the  walls  into  the  city.  On  that  day, 
these  terrific  bolts  of  war,  thrown  from  a  distance  of  four 
or  fire  miles,  descending  as  from  the  clouds,  fell  thickly 
in  the  western  portion  of  the  city,  killing  women  and 
children,  kindling  conflagrations,  destroying  the  most 
venerable  works  of  art,  and  scattering  dismay  and  death 
on  every  side.  Direful  famine  added  its  horrors  to  the 
woes  now  desolating  the  most  gay  and  beautiful  metrop- 
olis upon  this  globe. 

On  the  12th  of  January,  a  balloon  succeeded  in  leaving 
the  city.  Its  despatches  informed  the  outside  world  that 
the  bombardment  had  continued  with  great  violence  ; 
that  shells  were  falKng  near  the  Palace  of  the  Luxem- 
burg ;  that  several  citizens  had  been  killed,  and  others 
wounded;  that  the  Red  Repubhcans  had  placarded 
the  streets  with  revolutionary  posters,  trying  to  excite 
insurrection,  declaring  the  Government  of  Defence  cow- 
ardly and  incompetent.  Thousands  of  shells  had  fallen, 
creating  havoc  in  all  directions;  killing  women  and 
children,  and  striking  hospitals,  ambulances,  houses, 
and  churches. 

The  next  day  the  Germans  succeed  in  capturing  a 


TfTE    SIEGE    OF   PAllIS.  323 

Freucli  battery,  which  enabled  thein  to  push  their  siege- 
guns  a  mile  nearer  the  city.  From  Versailles  could  be 
seen  the  smoke  of  numerous  fires  caused  by  the  shells ; 
and  still  far  away  over  the  frozen  fields  of  France  the 
battle  raged,  and  the  trampled  snow  was  crimsoned  with 
the  blood  of  the  slain  as  the  drifts  swept  over  the  vic- 
tors and  the  vanquished  sleeping  in  death  together. 

And  so  it  was,  that  day  and  night,  over  distant  fields 
and  around  the  doomed  city,  the  awful  struggle  was  con- 
tinued without  intermission.  An  eloquent  writer  says, 
speaking  of  the  state  of  things  on  the  17th  of  January, 
"  The  surroundings  of  the  city  are  in  ruins  or  in  flames. 
Explosive  bolts  of  iron  of  over  two  hundred  pounds  in 
weight,  howling  like  demons  in  their  destructive  flight, 
are  plunging  down  through  the  humblest  roofs  and 
grandest  domes  in  the  heart  of  the  doomed  metropolis. 
It  is  the  bombardment  of  Strasburg  ten  times  magni- 
fied. In  its  destructive  projectiles,  and  in  the  warlike 
engines  and  forces  employed,  it  dwarfs  all  precedents 
of  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  remorseless  siege  and 
destruction  of  Carthage,  we  do  not  forget,  involved  the 
extinction  of  a  great  nation  and  a  great  people  ;  nor 
will  the  intelligent  reader  fiiil  to  recall  the  appalling 
loss  of  human  life  —  eleven  hundred  thousand  souls  — 
involved  in  the  siege  and  burning,  of  Jerusalem  by 
Titus  ;  nor  do  we  overlook  the  sacking  and  burning 
of  Rome  by  Alaric.  But  neither  Babylon,  Tyre,  Jeru- 
salem, Carthage,  nor  Rome,  furnishes  any  thing  in  the 
horrors  of  war  more  shocknig  to  the  Christian  human- 
itarian of  the  niiiotecnth  century  than  this  lionil^lo 
bombardment  of  Paris,  with  its  l)lind  and  indiscriminate 
killing  and  mangling  of  sohliers  and  non-combatants,  the 
strong  and  the  iielplcss,  men,  womcai,  and  children." 


324  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

In  seven  months  these  German  armies  had  crushed 
the  most  renowned  mihtary  power  of  modern  times,  had 
captured  its  emperor,  and  had  taken  possession  of  one- 
half  of  its  territory.  Prince  Frederick  Charles  was  pur- 
suing the  routed  forces  of  Gen.  Chanzy,  driven  beyond 
the  Loire.  Gen.  Bourbaki,  in  the  east  of  France,  was 
nearly  surrounded  by  the  Germans  under  Von  Werder 
and  Manteuffel,  and  his  doom  seemed  inevitable.  In 
the  north,  the  posture  of  affairs  was  still  more  gloomy. 
Gen.  Faidherbe  was  sullenly  retreating  before  the 
stronger  forces  of  Gen.  Von  Goeben. 

On  the  19th  of  January  it  was  reported,  that,  the  day 
before,  four  hundred  and  fifty  shells  had  been  thrown 
into  the  city ;  that  Sevres  was  in  ruins  ;  that  a  German 
battery  was  within  four  miles  of  Notre  Dame  ;  that 
Prince  Hohenlohe  had  declared  his  determination  to 
destroy  all  the  principal  edifices  in  Paris  ;  that  batteries 
were  already  reared  for  the  destruction  of  St.  Denis,  the 
sepulchre  of  the  ancient  kings  of  France ;  and  that  in 
Paris  "abominable  plots"  were  formed  for  the  over- 
throw of  the  Committee  of  Public  Defence,  and  for  the 
establishment  of  the  reign  of  terror.  An  insurrection- 
ary procession,  numbering  six  hundred,  had  paraded  the 
streets. 

Still  the  dismal  hours  of  war  and  woe  passed  slowly 
away.  Nothing  was  to  be  heard  on  any  side  but  disasters 
to  the  French.  Starvation  threatened  Paris.  All  the 
animals  in  the  menagerie  were  eaten.  Horses,  dogs,  cats, 
rats,  furnished  eagerly-coveted  food  for  the  famishing 
people.  The  conservatory  of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes, 
containing  the  most  magnificent  collection  of  exotics  in 
the  world,  was  in  ruins  ;  and  in  the  city  there  were 
every  hour  new  indications  of  hostility  to  the  Provisional 
Government,  and  new  menaces  of  revolt. 


THE   SIEGK   OF   PARIS.  325 

Gen.  Trochii,  utterly  disheartened,  tendered  liis  resig- 
nation as  Governor  of  Paris.  But  no  one  could  be  found 
to  take  his  place.  It  was  mid-winter :  the  fuel  was  all 
consumed ;  the  people  were  freezing  as  well  as  starving. 
The  German  batteries  were  drawing  nearer,  the  storm 
of  shells  growing  more  thick  and  terrible.  There  was 
no  possible  shelter.  The  government  was  in  bewilder- 
ment :  it  knew  not  what  to  do.  Sorties  were  impossible. 
Every  hour  of  resistance  was  only  submitting  to  heljiless 
massacre.  Starvation  was  steadily  approaching  :  capitu- 
lation would  seal  the  destiny  of  the  Committee  for 
Public  Defence. 

Under  these  circumstances,  Jules  Favre,  the  lead- 
ing spirit  in  the  Provisional  Government,  with  anguish 
of  spirit  which  must  have  been  awful,  on  the  25th  of 
January  sought  an  interview  with  Count  Bismarck,  at 
Versailles,  to  propose  terms  of  surrender.  France,  Paris, 
was  at  the  feet  of  the  conqueror.  He  could  exact,  and 
he  did  exact,  his  own  terms.  Scornfully  rejecting  any 
recognition  of  the  "gentlemen  of  the  pavement"  as  the 
government  of  France,  he  consented  to  an  armistice  of 
twenty-one  days,  upon  condition  that  all  the  troops  in 
the  city  should  surrender  their  arms,  and  that  the  forts 
surrounding  Paris  should  be  given  up  to  the  Germans. 
This  was,  of  course,  the  unconditional  surrender  of  Paris. 
The  German  troops  could  march  into  the  city  unresisted 
any  hour  of  any  day. 

It  Avas  also  exacted,  that  on  the  8th  of  February 
there  should  be  an  election,  throughout  France,  of  a 
Constituent  Assembly.  This  body  should  meet  on  the 
ir>th,  and  immediately  adopt  some  form  of  governnu-nt 
which  Germany  would  recognize,  and  with  which  Ger- 
many would  treat   for  conditions   of  peace.     To  that 


326  HISTORY    OF  PRUSSIA. 

government  King  William  would  present  the  following 
terms,  which,  in  the  name  of  France,  it  must  accept,  or 
the  slaughter  would  continue ;  for  ivar,  on  the  part  of 
the  French,  seemed  no  longer  possible  :  — 

1.  France  was  to  surrender  to  Prussia  Alsace  and 
Lorraine,  with  Belfort  and  Metz  ; 

2..  To  pay  as  indemnity  for  the  expenses  of  the  war 
ten  milKards  of  francs,  —  equal  to  two  thousand  million 
dollars ; 

3.  To  surrender  to  Prussia  the  French  colony  of 
Pondicherry  ;  and, 

4.  To  transfer  to  the  German  navy  twenty  first-class 
French  frigates.^ 

Such,  essentially,  were  the  terms  which  the  victor 
professed  himself  ready  to  offer  to  his  prostrate  and 
humiliated  foe. 

»  London  Times,  Feb.  1,  18T1. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 


'HERE  is  no  satisfactory  evidence,  that,  at 
/C^  /j!  ^  ^^y  *™^  during  the  war,  the  masses  of  the 
CrCm  H  T^  people  in  France  were  in  sympathy  with 
the  self-constituted  committees  in  Paris 
and  Bordeaux.  For  obvious  reasons,  the 
populace  in  large  cities  are  more  liable  to 
sudden  impulses  and  to  fickle  changes  than 
the  inhabitants  of  the  rural  districts.  Still,  in  the  great 
cities  there  was  no  harmony  of  views  in  accepting  what 
Avas  called  the  Republic,  —  a  usurpation  which  did  not 
dare  to  appeal  to  the  votes  of  the  nation  for  its  recog- 
nition. Even  in  Paris,  the  democratic  party  was  so 
divided,  that  there  were  insurrections  against  the  Gov- 
ernment for  the  National  Defence,  and  fearful  menaces 
of  civil  war,  even  when  the  bombardment  of  the  Prus- 
sians was  shaking  the  windows  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

Jules  Favre,  who  may,  perhaps,  be  considered  a  mod- 
erate republican,  was  at  the  head  of  the  government  in 
Paris,  Gambctta,  a  red  repu])lican  of  the  most  crim- 
son die,  was  the  leader  of  that  portion  of  the  govern- 
ment which  had  taken  refuge  in  Tours,  and  afterwards, 
upon  the  approach  of  the  Prussians,  had  escaped  to  Bor- 
deaux.    P'rom  the  commencement  of  the  so-called  repub- 


327 


328  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

lican  government,  there  had  been  ever-increasing  discord 
between  these  two  sections  of  the  ruhng  power. 

Upon  the  surrender  of  the  army  in  Paris  as  prisoners 
of  war,  it  is  estimated  that  there  was  the  ahuost  incredi- 
ble number  of  eight  hundred  thousand  of  unwounded 
French  prisoners  in  German  hands,  including  the  em- 
peror and  the  marshals  of  France.  The  victors  had 
also  captured  six  thousand  cannon  and  rifles,  and  mili- 
tary stores  of  all  kinds  in  amount  which  can  scarcely 
be  estimated.  This  had  all  been  accomplished  in  six 
months.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  such  achievements  had 
ever  before  been  performed  in  the  history  of  this  world. 

Gambetta,  while  calling  himself  a  republican,  was 
probably  as  bitterly  opposed  to  a  true  republic  as  any 
man  in  the  empire.  What  he  demanded  was  a  dictator- 
ship, with  himself  at  its  head.  He  forbade  the  conven- 
ing of  a  National  Assembly,  silenced  the  remonstrances 
of  the  press,  and  suppressed  the  councils-general  of  the 
departments,  which,  under  the  empire,  were  steadily 
advancing  in  the  path  of  local  self-government.  It  is  a 
painful  and  discouraging  fact,  that  none  have  shown 
greater  hostility  to  republican  institutions  than  the 
French  "  republicans." 

Upon  the  announcement  of  the  .armistice  by  Jules 
Favre,  Gambetta  issued  a  very  fiery  proclamation,  ur- 
ging France  to  improve  the  short  armistice  in  getting 
ready  to  renew  the  fight.  The  dictatorial  acts  of  L6on 
Gambetta  were  daily  assuming  an  aspect  of  increasing 
audacity.  As  Bismarck  utterly  refused  to  recognize  the 
irresponsible  Government  of  National  Defence,  and  de- 
manded the  convocation  of  a  National  Assembly  to 
or'T-anize  a  sfovernment  which  should  have  some  claim 
to   represent   the   French   nation,  Gambetta  could  not 


THE  POLITICAL   EMBARRASSMENTS.  329 

resist  that  demand.  lie,  however,  issued  a  decree,  de- 
claring that  no  man  should  be  a  candidate  for  that 
Assembly  who  was  a  member  of  any  of  the  families 
which  had  reigned  over  France  since  1789.  This  os- 
tracized all  relatives  of  the  Bourbon,  the  Orleans,  and 
the  Bonaparte  families.  He  also  declared  all  to  be  dis- 
qualified for  election,  who,  under  the  empire,  had  held 
office,  or  been  candidates  for  office,  as  ministers,  sena- 
tors, councillors  of  state,  or  prefects  of  the  depart- 
ments. 

It  was  his  object  to  limit  the  suffi'ages  of  the  French 
people  to  republican  candidates  alone.  It  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  find,  under  any  regime^  more  despotic  decrees 
than  were  issued  by  Gambetta.  The  Assembly  was  to 
consist  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty-three  delegates  for  all 
of  France.  "  All  the  detailed  conditions,"  writes  a  cor- 
respondent from  London,  "  laid  down  for  the  manage- 
ment of  the  elections,  are  grossly  in  favor  of  the  re- 
publicans now  in  power."  On  the  2d  of  February, 
Gambetta  caused  a  new  Committee  of  Public  Safety  to 
be  organized  in  Bordeaux,  by  which  such  extremists  in 
the  radical  ranks  as  Rochefort,  Loui^  Blanc,  and  Dupor- 
tal,  Avere  associated  with  him  in  power. 

The  Paris  government  issued  loud  remonstrances 
against  these  despotic  acts.  In  the  midst  of  these  ex- 
citing scenes  of  tumult  and  of  woe,  there  were,  every 
day,  increasing  indications  that  large  numbers  in  France 
were  earnestly  desiring  the  return  of  the  captive  emper- 
or, under  whose  sway  France  had  enjoyed  twenty  years 
of  prosperity  and  happiness  unparalleled  in  all  her  ancient 
annals.  A  correspondent  from  AVilhelmsh(ihe  gives 
us  the  following  glimpse  of  the  ap})earance  of  the  illus- 
trious prisoner  during  these  days  of  trial :  — 


330  HISTORY    OF   PRUSSIA, 

"  Ever  since  the  first  despatch  announcing  the  com- 
mencement of  the  bombardment  of  Paris  reached  the 
imperial  prisoner,  he  seems  to  have  been  overwhelmed 
with  grief  at  the  misfortunes  of  the  fair  city.  How 
very  deeply  it  moved  him  is  evident  from  a  remarkable 
change  in  his  features  ;  their  painful  and  melancholy 
expression  indicating  how  he  loved  dear  Paris,  that  city 
from  which  he  has  experienced  so  much  wrong. 

"  Of  the  millions  in  and  outside  of  France  mourning 
its  terrible  destruction,  who  has  reason  to  be  more  dis- 
tressed than  Napoleon  III.  ?  Are  its  architectural  splen- 
dors, and  the  beauty  of  its  boulevards  and  noble  streets, 
not  a  monument  erected,  as  it  were,  to  himself,  and  com- 
memorating a  work,  to  the  execution  of  which,  during 
nearly  twenty  years,  he  has  devoted  untiring  energy  and 
pride  ?  The  beautiful  city  would  have  been  an  imper- 
ishable monument,  speaking  to  generations  to  come  of 
the  so  well-abused  empire  in  better  and  more  truthful 
language  than  the  journals  and  pamplilets  of  the  present 
epoch. 

"  Of  the  many  who  are  discussing  the  probability  of 
a  return  of  the  Napoleonic  dynasty,  none  consider  for  a 
moment  that  the  greatest  of  all  obstacles  has  first  to  be 
overcome  ;  namely,  that  the  emperor  may  refuse  his  con- 
sent. The  possibility  of  such  an  occurrence  may  be 
doubted  by  those  who  have  endeavored,  for  a  series  of 
years,  to  portray  the  Emperor  of  the  French  in  false 
colors,  and  to  caricature  him  before  their  contempora- 
ries. They  may  doubt  that  the  prisoner  of  Wilhelms- 
hohe  would  reject  that  dignity  of  which  he  has  been  de- 
prived by  a  comparatively  small  number  of  demagogues. 
Let  me  endeavor  to  give  you  a  few  hints  respecting  the 
aforementioned  obstacles. 


THE   POLITICAL   EMBARRASSMENTS.  331 

"  At  first,  there  is  that  sentiment  expressed  by  the 
emperor,  spoken  of  in  a  former  letter  to  you,  —  that 
the  u'hole  people  only,  through  their  legal  representatives, 
have  a  right  to  recall  the  emperor.  Neither  the  army, 
nor  the  Prussian  Government,  nor  the  demands  of  party, 
could  induce  his  return.  The  enth-e  people  are  entitled 
to  repair  the  great  wrong  perpetrated  against  his  person 
by  tliose  political  leaders  who  forced  him  into  this  war, 
and  who  profited  Ijy  the  hour  of  misfortune  to  carry  out 
th(;ir  long-prepared  and  sinister  designs." 

Each  day  brought  increasing  indications  of  the  an- 
tagonism between  Jules  Favre  with  his  associates  at 
Paris,  and  Leon  Gambetta  and  his  associates  at  Bor- 
deaux. Messages  of  defiance  passed  between  them. 
The  following  extracts  from  the  public  journals  will 
show  the  state  of  affairs  on  the  7th  of  February,  the 
day  before  the  general  election  of  members  for  the 
National  Assembly  was  to  take  place  :  — 

"  There  is  little  -to  be  expected  from  the  Bordeaux 
wing  of  the  government.  The  very  power  at  present 
wielded  by  tlie  fire-eaters  who  control  it  is  a  usurpation 
of  the  legitimate  authority  which  really  belongs  to 
the  Paris  government.  Yet  from  this  very  hot-bed  of 
the  worst  radicalism,  misnamed  republicanism,  which  tlie 
world  has  witnessed  in  this  generation,  the  immediate 
destinies  of  a  great  nation  must  come  forth.  If  the 
teachings  of  Gambetta  and  his  followers  prevail,  the 
most  direful  results  to  the  French  peopla  must  follow. 

"  Henri  Rochefort  is  again  coming  to  tlie  surface 
from  ih(;  obscurity  into  whi(-h  the  startling  events  of 
the  past  year  had  cast  him.  Now  he  appears  on 
the  stage,  if  report  speaks   truly,  as  an   advocate  of 


332  HISTORY   OF   PRUSSIA. 

assassination.  Gambetta,  Rocliefort,  Flourens,  —  these, 
and  men  of  like  character  and  similar  associations,  are 
the  men  who  propose  to  regenerate  France,  and  found 
what  they  call  a  republic,  but  what  sensible  and  think- 
ing people  consider  would  prove  a  despotism  far  worse 
than  that  of  the  empire. 

"  The  situation  to-day  is  pitiful,  and  in  all  respects 
unworthy  of  a  great  people.  France  herself  is  divided. 
The  Imperialists  are  in  bad  repute  ;  the  Orl^anists  are 
of  doubtful  value ;  the  Legitimists  are  nowhere ;  the 
Republicans  — behold  the  situation  of  the  hour !  " 

Feb.  8,  1871.  —  The  news  flashed  across  the  wires 
from  ill-fated  France  to-day  was  as  follows  :  — 

"  France  presents  the  melancholy  spectacle  of  a  once 
proud  and  powerful  nation  at  the  mercy  of  a  noisy, 
turbulent,  and  unprincipled  crew  of  demagogues.  Spe- 
cial despatches  from  Paris,  Bordeaux,  Lyons,  and  other 
points  throughout  the  country,  serve  to  show  the 
wretched  character  of  the  majority  of  the  men  who 
are  candidates  for  the  National  Assembly.  It  seems 
as  though  the  very  slums  of  Paris,  Bordeaux,  Lyons, 
and  JNIarseilles,  have  thrown  up  their  refuse  to  be  used 
by  the  unprincipled  demagogues  who  wield  temporary 
power  in  France.  While  famishing  people  cry  for 
bread  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  the  mob  yell  for  a 
Robespierre  and  the  guillotine.  In  the  agonj^  of  their 
despair,  the  terror-stricken  people  suffer  in  silence,  afraid 
to  speak  their  thoughts,  or  raise  their  hands  to  save 
themselves  from  the  tide  of  violence  which  threatens 
them  with  destruction.  The  mob  rule,  and  despotism  is 
the  law.  Truly  France  is  suffering.  Bleeding  from 
every  pore,   paralyzed   in    every   part,  humiliated,  cast 


THE   rOLITICAL   EMBARRASSMENTS.  333 

down,  and  prostrate,  she  is  even  now,  in  this  bitter 
hour,  tormented  by  the  dissensions  and  evil  teachings 
of  her  children."  '■ 

Jules  Favre  and  his  colleagues  were  in  disfavor  be- 
cause they  liad  agreed  to  an  armistice.  The  feelhig 
against  Gambetta  was  increasing.  Red  republicanism 
of  the  worst  type  began  to  show  itself.  One  orator  at 
a  public  meeting  declared  that  a  Robespierre  was  re- 
quired, and  that  the  guillotine  alone  could  save  France. 
Tliis  declaration,  so  bloodthirsty,  was  received  with  yells 
of  delight. 

"  In  keeping  with  this  atrocious  sentiment,  we  have 
the  fact  that  most  of  the  Paris  candidates  for  the  As- 
sembly are  men  taken  from  the  slums  of  Belleville  and 
St.  Antoine,  —  men  notorious  for  their  violence,  reck- 
lessness, and  lack  of  ability.  .  We  have  no  doubt  that 
these  villains,  madmen,  and  fanatics  are  a  minority  of 
the  population :  but,  unfortunately,  they  are  the  party 
of  action ;  compact,  and  united  against  the  party  of 
order;  divided,  and  irreconcilable  in  their  division." 

.Tides  Favre  and  his  colleagues  seem  to  dread  ap- 
proaching anarchy.  Already  their  arrest  and  trial  were 
advocated;  and  one  speaker  (M.  Gaillard)  denounced 
them  as  twelve  bandits  who  have  sold  Paris  for  gold. 
Rochefort's  and  Pyat's  newspapers  breathed  nothing  but 
revolution  and  vengeance.  Wliile  the  political  situa- 
tion was  thus  terrible,  the  horrors  of  starvation  were 
commencing  their  reign. 

On  the  8th  of  February,  the  election  of  delegates  to 
the  National  Assembly  took  place  throughout  France. 

•  Correspondence  of  the  Now- York  Herald. 


334  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

In  view  of  this  event,  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  from  his 
captivity  at  Wilhelmshohe,  issued  the  following  procla- 
mation to  the  French  people.  The  proclamation  gave 
great  satisfaction  to  his  friends,  and  was  reviled  by  his 
enemies. 

"Wilhelmshohe,  Feb.  8,  1871. 

"  Betrayed  by  fortune,  I  have  kept,  since  my  captivity, 
a  profound  silence,  which  is  misfortune's  mourning. 
As  long  as  the  armies  confronted  each  other,  I  abstained 
from  any  steps  or  words  capable  of  causing  party  dis- 
sensions; but  I  can  no  longer  remain  silent  before  my 
country's  disaster  without  appearing  insensible  to  its 
sufferings.  When  I  was  made  a  prisoner,  I  could  not 
treat  for  peace,  because  my  resolutions  would  appear  to 
have  been  dictated  by  personal  considerations.  I  left 
a  regent  to  decide  whether  it  was  for  the  interest  of 
•the  nation  to  continue  the  struggle.  Notwithstanding 
unparalleled  reverses,  France  was  unsubdued ;  but  her 
strongholds  were  reduced,  her  departments  invaded,  and 
Paris  brought  into  a  state  of  defence.  The  extent  of 
her  misfortunes  might  possibly  have  been  limited  ;  but, 
while  attention  was  directed  to  her  enemies,  insurrec- 
tion arose  at  Paris,  the  seat  of  representatives  was  vio- 
lated, the  safety  of  the  empress  threatened,  and  the 
empire,  which  had  been  three  times  acclaimed  by  the 
people,  was  overthrown  and  abandoned. 

"  Stilling  jny  presentiments,  I  exclaimed,  '  What  mat- 
ter my  dynasty,  if  the  country  is  saved  ?  '  Instead  of 
protesting  against  the  violation  of  my  right,  I  hoped  for 
the  success  of  the  defence,  and  admired  the  patriotic  de- 
votion of  the  children  of  France.  Now,  when  the  strug- 
gle is  suspended,  and  all  reasonable  chance  of  victory  has 
disappeared,  is  the  time  to  call  to  account  the  usurpers  for 


THE   POLITICAL  EMBARRASSMENTS.  335 

tlie  l)loo(lslie(l  iind  ruin  and  s([uandcred  resources.  It  is 
impossible  to  aljandou  the  destinies  of  France  to  an  uu- 
aulliDvizcd  government  to  wliicli  was  left  no  authority 
emanating  from  universal  suffrage.  Order,  confidence, 
and  s(^lid  peace,  are  only  recoverable  when  the  people  are 
consulted  respecting  the  government  most  capable,  of 
repairing  the  disasters  to  the  country.  It  is  essential 
that  France  should  be  united  in  her  wishes.  For  my- 
self, banished  by  injustice  and  bitter  deceptions,  I  do 
not  know  or  claim  my  repeatedly-conhrmed  rights. 
There  is  no  room  for  personal  ambition.  But  till  the 
people  are  regularly  assembled,  and  express  their  will, 
it  is  my  duty  to  say  that  all  acts  are  illegitimate.  There 
is  only  one  government,  in  which  resides  the  national 
sovereignty^  able  to  heal  wounds,  to  bring  hope  to  fire- 
sides, to  re-open  profaned  churches,  and  to  restore  in- 
dustry, concord,  and  peace." 

The  result  of  these  elections  proved  that  France  was 
by  no  means  disjwsed  to  intrust  her  destiny  to  those 
reckless  men,  who,  by  the  aid  of  the  mob  of  Paris,  had 
usurped  the  government,  and  established  a  despotism 
which  they  dared  not  submit  to  the  suffrages  of  the 
French  people,  and  which  they  yet  absurdly  called  the 
Repu])lic.  Notwithstanding  there  were  several  hundred 
thousand  imperial  soldiers  prisoners  in  Germany,  and 
who  consequently  could  not  vote,  France,  by  a  vote  of 
more  than  four  to  one,  rejected  the  self-constituted 
government  of  Jules  Favrc,  Leon  Gambetta,  and  their 
colleagues,  and  elected  candidates  pledged  to  some  form 
of  monarchy.  Though  the  great  cities  chose  as  dele- 
gates the  most  radical  of  the  red  republicans,  the  depart- 
ments returned  men  of  a  very  different  character. 


336  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

"  The  loose  materials  of  the  great  cities,  which  have 
nothing  to  lose  and  much  to  gain  from  a  republic  of 
the  communist  order,  calling  for  a  new  division  of  all 
the  lands  and  property  in  France  among  all  the  people, 
have  gone  for  the  Gambetta  republicans.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  property-holders,  including  the  peasantry  on 
their  small  estates,  prefer  things  as  they  are  to  any 
cliange  which  threatens  to  dispossess  them.  And,  again, 
the  Catholic  clergy  in  France  see  in  Gambetta,  Gari- 
baldi, and  company,  only  the  enemies  of  their  church, 
aiming  at  its  destruction ;  and  so  the  influence  of  the 
Church  has  been  wielded  against  the  republic."  ^ 

On  the  16th  of  February,  reliable  tidings  were  re- 
ceived in  this  country  of  the  result  of  the  elections,  and 
of  the  probable  character  of  the  Assembly.  In  view  of 
the  facts  announced,  "  The  New-York  Herald "  makes 
the  following  remarks,  which  will  commend  themselves 
to  the  intelligent  reader :  — 

"  To-day  France  presents  a  fresh  spectacle  for  world- 
wide observation  and  study.  No  part  of  the  world 
looks  on  more  attentively,  or  questions  more  acutely, 
than  the  United  States  of  America  ;  and  it  is  not  unfair 
to  say  that  this  people  have  ceased  to  have  any  faith  in 
France. 

"  This  day,  while  we  write,  she  is  no  longer  the  hope 
of  Europe :  what  is  worse,  she  is  either  the  object  of  pity 
or  the  object  of  contempt.  Republicans  as  we  are,  we 
have  to  confess  it  with  sorrow,  that  we  can  no  longer 
look  to  France  as  the  possible  regenerator  of  Europe. 
She  had  a  glorious  first  opportunity.      That  first  was 

1  Correspondence  of  the  New-York  Herald,  Feb.  13,  1871. 


TOE   POLITICAL   EMBARRASSMENTS.  337 

lost  or  flung  away.  The  opportunity  has  been  again  and 
again  repeated,  but  always  with  the  same  result.  How 
can  we  longer  hope  or  trust  ? 

"  We  are  now  face  to  face  with  new  facts.  After  a 
defeat  which  has  no  parallel  in  history,  France  has  been, 
by  the  magnanimity  of  the  conqueror,  permitted  to 
pronounce  on  her  own  destiny.  She  has  had,  perhaps, 
the  fairest  chance  of  speaking  out  the  thoughts  that  are 
Avitliin  her  that  she  ever  had  in  her  whole  history ;  and 
she  has  once  again,  and  most  emphatically,  spoken  in  a 
manner  which  is  disappointing  to  all  those  who  love 
republican  institutions. 

"  Tlie  results  of  the  recent  elections  are  clearly,  as  all 
our  readers  must  now  be  fully  convinced,  in  favor  of 
monarchy.  It  is  not  yet  time  to  say  what  is  the  exact 
complexion  of  the  Asseml^ly ;  but  if  it  be  true  that  the 
house  of  Orleans  has  practically  polled  four  hundred 
votes  as  against  a  hundred  and  fifty  for  the  repubUc, 
fifty  for  the  old  Bourbons  or  Legitimists,  and  twenty  for 
the  Bonapartes,  we  have  no  choice  but  say  France  is 
not  yet  ripe  and  ready  for  citizen  sovereignty.  Look  at 
the  National  Assembly  to-day  from  what  point  of  view 
we  may,  we  can  come  to  no  other  conclusion  than  this, 
—  that  France  has  heartily,  and  with  not  a  little  em- 
phasis, condemned  the  empire  and  the  Bonapartes, 
condemned  the  republic  and  the  infidels  and  the  com- 
munists, condemned  divine  right  and  the  old  Bourbons, 
and  gone  in,  if  not  for  Phihp  Egalitd,  at  least  for  the 
principles  represented  by  his  son,  the  citizen-king.  No 
more  empire,  no  more  republic,  but  the  constitution  of 
1830,  and  a  citizen-king,  —  that  is  the  residt  of  the  elec- 
tions which  have  just  been  finislicd  in  France,  and  wliicli 
are  represented  in  the  National  Assembly  o(  to-day. 


338  HISTORY    OF  PRUSSIA. 

"  Why  is  it  so  ?  Why  are  our  republican  hopes  once 
more  blasted  ?  Why  is  this  fresh  French  opportunity 
lost  to  France  and  the  world  ?  The  answer  to  these 
questions  is  not  far  to  seek.  Under  the  bright  sunshine 
of  the  empire,  France  indulged  in  proud  memories,  was 
happy  and  gay,  despised  all  shadow,  and  dreamed  of  no 
sorrow.  What  had  the  empire  not  done  ?  It  had  made 
France  the  central,  the  pivotal  power  of  Europe.  For 
twenty  years,  the  word  of  France,  spoken  by  the  em- 
peror, was  a  word  of  authority  which  no  nation  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  could  aiford  to  despise.  Did  not  the 
empire  humble  Russia  ?  Did  not  the  empire  give  Italy 
unity  ?  Did  not  the  empire  compel  Prussia  to  halt  at 
Sadowa  ?  Was  not  the  empire  the  bulwark  of  the 
Papacy  ?  Was  it  not  the  hope  of  all  struggling  nation- 
alities ?  Was  it  not,  as  it  once  had  been,  a  match  for 
the  world  in  arms  ?  Was  not  Paris,  adorned  by  the 
empire,  the  eye  of  the  civilized  world,  even  as  Corinth 
was  once  said  to  be  the  eye  of  Greece  ? 

"  Since  Sedan,  the  so-caUed  republic,  headed  by  men 
who  dared  not  appeal  to  the  French  people,  —  because 
they  knew  that  French  Catholics  could  not  and  would 
not  trust  infidels,  and  that  French  proprietors  could  not 
and  would  not  trust  communists,  —  has  had  its  chance  ; 
but  the  failure  of  the  so-caUed  republic  has  been  more 
complete,  more  disastrous,  and,  if  possible,  more  igno- 
minious, than  that  of  the  empire.  If  France  was  hum- 
bled by  the  surrender  of  Sedan,  France  is  squelched  by 
the  surrender  and  occupation  of  Paris.  It  is  not  for  us 
to  say  whether  France  has  been  just  or  unjust  to  the 
empire,  just  or  unjust  to  the  republic.  We  must  accept 
facts.  The  facts  are  represented  in  the  National  Assem- 
bly ;  and  the  National  Assembly  is  just  as  little  imperialist 


THE   POLITICAL    KMIIAIIUASSMENTS.  339 

or  republican  as  it  is  legitimist.  If  the  stars  have  any 
meaning,  the  star  which  France  and  the  rest  of  the 
civilized  world  see  rising  out  of  this  six-months'  dark- 
ness shines  benignantly  on  the  house  of  Orleans." 

The  victory  of  Prussia  is  complete.  France  is  hum- 
bled and  prostrate  beyond  all  possibility  of  retrievement 
for  generations  to  come.  And  Avhat  has  Germany 
gained?  Upon  tliis  theme  "The  New-York  World" 
makes  the  following  sensible  observations  :  — 

"  But  the  most  far-reaching  consequence  of  this  war 
is  the  unification  of  Germany.  It  brings  under  one  gov- 
ernment a  territory  and  population  about  equal  to  those 
of  France  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  The  area  of  the 
new  German  Empu-e  is  20G,575  English  square  miles ; 
containing,  in  1867,  a  population  of  38,522,336.  Both 
area  and  population  will  be  somewhat  increased  by  the- 
French  provinces  retained.  The  area  of  France,  pre- 
vious to  her  losses,  was  207,480  square  miles;  and  her 
population,  in  1866,  was  38,067,094  :  so  she  will  hereafter 
be  inferior  to  Germany  both  in  territory  and  inhabitants. 
She  will  have  the  further  disadvantage  of  a  much  heavier 
public  debt.  The  national  debt  of  France  in  1869  was, 
in  round  numbers,  $2,766,000,000  of  our  money  ;  wliile 
the  aggregate  debts  of  the  several  countries  now  united 
to  form  the  German  Empire  amounted,  in  the  same  year, 
to  only  '$538,500,000,  and  bore  quite  as  low  a  rate  of 
interest.  The  public  debt  of  France  was  five  times  as 
great  as  the  collective  debts  which  will  be  consolidated 
by  German  unity  ;  and  the  disproportion  will  be  greatly 
increased  by  this  terrible  war,  since  France,  besides  de- 
fraying her  own  expenses,  will  liave  to  rc-imburse  a  part 
of  the  expenses  of  Germany. 


340  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

"  What  advantages,  aside  from  national  weight  and 
importance,  will  attend  the  knitting-together  of  the  Ger- 
man States  into  one  emph-e,  cannot  yet  be  estimated. 
At  present,  the  prospect  looks  unfavorable  to  the  devel- 
opment of  free  institutions.  The  empire  will  be  too 
powerful  to  be  resisted  by  any  of  the  small  States  which 
have  been  merged  in  it.  None  of  the  local  governments 
will  be  any  further  respected  than  suits  the  convenience 
of  the  central  authority  for  purposes  of  local  administra- 
tion. The  present  rulers  of  Germany  are  the  last  men 
in  Europe  to  make  any  voluntary  concessions  to  popular 
rights ;  and  their  power  of  repression  is  manifestly 
strengthened  by  the  new  ascendency  which  this  war  has 
given  them  over  the  national  mind.  But  the  Emperor 
William,  who  will  complete  his  seventy-fourth  year  on 
the  22d  of  March  must,  in  the  course  of  nature,  give 
place  ere  long  to  the  Crown  Prince,  who  may  not 
inherit  his  father's  narrow  and  bigoted  notions  and  arro- 
gant temper.  His  education  has  been  more  liberal ;  and 
his  English  marriiige  would  naturally  have  brought  him 
into  contact  with  some  people  who  might  give  his  mind, 
if  it  is  at  all  open  and  receptive,  some  tincture  of  British 
pohtics.  But,  if  the  haughty  and  unscrupulous  Bismarck 
should  continue  to  be  prime-minister,  his  stronger  char- 
acter and  astuter  intellect  would  be  Hkely  to  mould  the 
government." 


"^^ 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 


PEACE. 


'HE  establishment  of  the  great  Germanic 
Empire,  which  is  now  un  fait  accompli^ 
has  cost  three  sanguinary  wars.  First, 
there  was  the  war  with  Denmark  for  the 
possession  of  Schleswig  and  Holstein. 
Next  came  the  war  with  Austria,  terminat- 
ing in  the  terrible  slaughter  of  Sadowa,  by 
which  Prussia  doubled  her  territory  and  population,  and 
more  than  doubled  her  military  power.  Then  ensued  the 
war  with  France,  by  wliich  Prussia  consoHdated  her  new 
possessions,  obtained  both  banks  of  the  Rhine  from  Bel- 
gium to  Switzerland,  and,  by  depriving  France  of  any 
natural  frontier,  left  France  entirely  at  the  mercy  of 
any  Germanic  invasion  ;  while  Germany,  with  the  broad 
Rhine  and  its  impregnable  fortresses  in  her  possession, 
was  effectually  guarded  against  any  approach  from 
France.  It  is  very  seldom  that  any  earthly  plans  ad- 
vance so  triumphantly  from  the  commencement  to  the 
conclusion  as  have  these  measures  of  Count  Bismarck  for 
the  establishment  of  the  German  Empire.  True,  the  ex- 
pense has  been  awful  beyond  all  luunan  estimation. 
The  number  of  lives  sacrificed  in  the  carnage  of  the 
battle-field  and  in  the    wards  of  the  hospital  is  to  bo 

311 


342  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

counted  by  hundreds  of  thousands.  Other  multitudes, 
which  cannot  be  numbered,  must  pass  through  life  with 
mutilated  bodies,  consigning  them  to  hopeless  impover- 
ishment. Germany  and  France  have  been  literally  filled 
with  widows  and  with  orphans ;  and  their  silent  woe, 
unheeded  by  men,  will,  through  long  years  of  suffering, 
ascend  to  the  ear  of  God.  The  destruction  of  property 
in  the  bombardment  and  conflagration  of  cities,  in  the 
villages  and  cottages  laid  in  ashes,  the  trampling  of  har- 
vests, and  all  the  w!iste  and  ruin  which  accompany  the 
march  of  hostile  armies,  it  is  scarcely  in  the  power  of 
human  arithmetic  to  compute.  The  blessings  which  the 
Germanic  Empire  shall  confer  upon  humanity  ought  to 
be  very  great  indeed  to  compensate  for  the  misery  into 
which  millions  have  been  plunged.  It  is  said,  that  when 
some  one,  in  conversation  with  Count  Bismarck,  alluded 
to  these  woes  which  the  establishment  of  the  empire 
had  cost,  he  replied,  "  Yes  ;  but,  unfortunately,  you  can- 
not have  an  omelette  without  breaking  the  eggs." 

It  is  now  obvious  to  every  reflecting  mind,  that  the 
overthrow  of  the  French  Empire  after  the  disaster  at 
Sedan,  and  the  substitution  of  the  irresponsible  Com- 
mittee of  National  Defence,  was  an  irreparable  calamity 
for  France.  The  Imperial  Government,  which  had  been 
established  and  sustained  by  the  votes  of  the  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  people,  had  conferred  upon 
France  twenty  years  of  prosperity,  and  was  recognized 
and  respected  by  all  the  governments  of  Europe,  Asia, 
and  America. 

,  When  such  men  as  Favre,  Gambetta,  and  Rochefort, 
taking  advantage  of  an  hour  of  terrible  disaster  and 
dismay,  summoned  the  mob  of  Paris  to  their  aid,  and 
with   dictatorial   hands   seized   the   sceptre   of    power, 


PEACE.  343 

France  was  bewildered,  stunned,  paralyzed.  Catholic 
France  would  not  listen  to  the  voice  of  those  whose  cry- 
was  "  Down  with  the  church ! "  as  well  as  "  Down  with  the 
throne  !  "  Eugdnie,  as  regent,  might  have  summoned  all 
France  to  rise  en  masse  to  repel  the  invader.  The  pope 
would  have  contributed  his  powerful  sjonpathy;  and 
every  ecclesiastic  in  France  would  have  echoed  the 
appeal.  Thus,  in  an  hour,  seven  millions  of  fighting 
men  might  have  sprung  to  arms.  The  vast  fleet  of 
France,  in  perfect  command  of  the  seas,  could  have  sup- 
plied them  with  weapons.  There  was  thus  a  prohability 
of  the  calamity  being  mitigated  ;  and  a  i^ossihility^  even, 
that  it  might  be  repaired.  But  the  pope,  the  cardinals, 
and  the  bishops  all  felt  that  they  had  no  foes  more  to 
be  dreaded  than  the  democracy  of  Paris,  Lyons,  and 
]\Iarseilles.  Thus,  when  Gambetta  and  Rochefort  fran- 
tically shouted  for  all  France  to  spring  to  arms,  the 
priests  were  silent,  and  the  peasants  shook  their  heads. 
The  energies  of  France  were  paralyzed,  and  her  doom 
was  sealed. 

The  empire,  under  the  regency,  could  have  looked  to 
the  surrounding  kingdoms  with  some  hope,  at  least, 
of  securing  an  alliance.  These  kingdoms  all  feared  the 
enormous  growth  and  military  power  of  l^russia ;  and 
none  of  them  wished  to  see  France  trampled  in  the 
dust.  They  all  maintained  friendly  relations  with  the 
empire.  The  pope  wielded  a  moral  power  stronger 
than  bayonets  or  batteries ;  and  the  pope  had  ever 
found  in  the  emperor  a  firm  friend.  Victor  Emanuel 
owed  his  crown  to  the  emperor ;  and  united  Italy  was 
one  of  the  creations  of  tlio  empire.  Tin-  daughter  of 
Victor  Emanuel,  tlie  Princess  ('lutilde,  had  married  the 
emperor's  cousin,  Prince  IJoiiaparte ;  and  she  was  one 


344  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

of  the  most  lovely  and  beloved  of  the  inmates  of  the 
Tuileries.  This  rendered  it  not  impossible  that  an  alli- 
ance with  Italy  might  soon  have  been  formed. 

Spain  had,  with  singular  unanimity,  voted  against  a 
republic,  and  had  established  a  monarchy.  Prhice  Amo- 
deus,  a  son  of  Victor  Emanuel  and  a  brother  of  Princess 
Clotilde,  was  soon  chosen  King  of  Spain.  This  family 
alliance  tended  to  unite  Spain  with  Italy  in  strong  sym- 
pathy with  France.  Hence  it  was  by  no  means  improb- 
able that  SjDain  might  have  been  induced  to  send  her 
armies  across  the  Pyrenees  to  assist  the  French  Empire 
in  its  deadly  struggle  with  its  foreign  foes.  Family 
alliance,  religious  faith,  and  harmonious  institutions, 
would  all  have  lent  their  aid. 

Austria,  smarting  beneath  her  terrible  defeats,  exas- 
perated by  the  loss  of  immense  territory,  trembling  in 
view  of  the  gigantic  power  which  was  overshadowing 
her,  and  grateful  to  Napoleon  for  having,  after  the  dis- 
aster of  Sadowa,  prohibited  the  further  encroachments  of 
Prussia,  —  thus  saving  Austria  from  annihilation,  —  must 
have  been  in  a  position  to  listen  to  overtures  which 
would  enable  her  to  strike  back  some  revengeful  blows, 
and  perhaps  to  regain  a  portion  of  that  which  she  had 
lost.  ^ 

The  British  Government  was  in  far  more  cordial  sym- 
pathy with  the  French  Empire  than  with  any  other 
government  upon  the  continent.  The  alliance  in  the 
Crimean  War  had  cemented  the  friendship  of  the  gov- 
ernments and  the  armies  of  England  and  France.  By 
friendly  co-operation,  the  commerce  of  the  two  nations 
had  been  vastly  increased ;  and  constant  intercourse 
was  fast  uniting  the  two  nations  in  sympathetic  bonds. 

In  April,  1855,  the  emperor,  with  Eugenie,  visited 


PEACE.  345 

the  Queen  of  England.  The  palaces  of  Victoria  hlazed 
with  regal  fetfn  in  their  honor.  Their  reception  was 
alike  enthusiastic  by  the  court  and  by  the  populace. 
The  Lord  Mayor  of  Windsor,  in  welcoming  the  royal 
guests  to  Windsor  Castle,  said,  — 

"  We  are  sensible,  sire,  that  to  the  wisdom  and  vifror 
of  your  imperial  majesty's  counsels,  and  to  your  unceas- 
ing endeavors  to  promote  the  true  interests  of  the 
poVerful  and  generous  nation  which  Providence  Has 
committed  to  your  care,  may  be  attributed  that  pros- 
perity and  happiness  which  your  country  now  enjoys." 

"  The  London  Times  "  of  that  date  speaks  as  follows 
of  the  reception  which  England  gave  to  her  distin- 
guished guests :  — 

"  They  were  the  associations  connected  with  Napoleon 
III.  —  the  remembrance  of  his  deeds  and  the  knowl- 
edge of  his  worth  —  which  pressed  along  his  progress 
the  millions  who  this  week  have  given  to  the  world  an 
imperishable  testimony  of  their  appreciation  of  forti- 
tude in  troubles,  energy  in  action,  courage  amidst  dan- 
gers, and  clemency  amid  triumphs. 

"  They  honored  the  wisdom  and  probity  which  occu- 
pied a  mighty  throne,  and  honored  the  thousand  princely 
qualities  whicli  had  won  it.  They  honored  the  great 
man  who  had  retrieved  the  prosperity  and  the  power  of 
France.  They  honored  the  good  sovereign  whose  chief 
care  is  the  welfare  of  his  people.  And,  in  the  greeting 
offered  to  Napoleon,  we  may  truly  add,  there  was  love 
for  the  nation  which  he  had  restored  to  its  legitimate 
place  amongst  the  powers  of  the  earth  at  a  moment 
most  critical  to  its  destinies,  and  to  which  he  had  given 
back,  with  the  suddenness  of  enchantment,  all  its  inter- 
nal prosperity,  after  convulsions  which  made  the  most 


346  HISTORY   OF   PRUSSIA. 

sanguine  despair  of  its  future.  Given  back  !  —  he  has 
opened  for  it  a  new  career  of  unprecedented  success." 

Addresses  breathing  the  above  spirit  were  showered 
upon  the  emperor  from  all  quarters.  On  the  17th  of 
April,  the  city  of  London  offered  a  banquet  to  their 
Majesties.  In  the  response  of  the  emperor  to  the  very 
complimentary  address  of  the  lord  mayor,  he  said,  — 

"  As  for  me,  I  have  preserved  on  the  throne,  for  the 
people  of  England,  the  sentiments  of  esteem  and  sym- 
pathy which  I  professed  in  exile,  when-  I  enjoyed  here 
the  hospitality  of  the  queen ;  and,  if  I  have  conformed 
my  conduct  to  my  convictions,  it  is  because  the  interest 
of  the  nation  which  elected  me,  as  well  as  those  of 
general  civilization,  constrain  me  to  do  so." 

England  needed  an  ally  upon  the  Continent.  France* 
was  the  only  nation  to  which  she  could  look  for  cordial 
alliance.  Under  these  ckcumstances,  the  sympathies  of 
England  would  have  been  with  France,  had  the  empire 
continued  ;  and  it  is  by  no  means  impossible  that  Eng- 
land might  have  been  induced  to  contribute  more  to  the 
empire  than  her  moral  support. 

.  But  the  suicidal  act  of  the  democra<;y  in  Paris  in 
seizing  upon  the  moment  of  overwhelming  disaster  to 
overthrow  by  mob-violence  the  constituted  authorities, 
and  to  establish  a  dictatorship  which  they  absurdly 
called  a  repubhc,  which  they  dared  not  submit  to  popu- 
lar suffrage,  and  which  no  government  in  Europe  would 
recognize,  left  France,  wounded  and  bleeding,  at  the 
mercy  of  her  foes.  There  was  no  longer  any  hope  of 
efficient  aid  from  home  or  from  abroad.  Catholic 
France  could  not  unite  in  measures  which  would  place 
the  sceptre  in  the  hands  of  infidel  communism  and 
socialism  ;    and  neither  the  governments  of   England, 


PEACE.  347 

Austria,  Italy,  or  Spain,  could  think  of  aiding  to  estab- 
lish and  consolidate  the  sway  of  the  self-cortfttituted 
democratic  committees  of  Paris  and  Bordeaux.  Indeed, 
were  a  republic,  distinctively  organized,  to  be  estab- 
lished in  France,  it  would  not  enjoy  the  sympathy  and 
friendship  of  a  single  monarchy  in  Europe.  It  would 
be  simply  tolerated  ;  while  every  neighboring  power 
would  strive  to  embarrass  its  operations,  and  would 
eagerly  watch  for  its  downfall.  In  this  hostility,  none 
would  be  more  prominent  than  the  majestic  German  Em- 
pire, which  now,  in  possession  of  the  most  important 
avenues  of  entrance  into  France,  holds  France  entirely 
at  its  mercy. 

One  of  the  most  untoward  yet  inevitable  results  of 
this  conflict  is,  that  it  has  irreparably  impaired,  through- 
out Christendom,  confidence  in  the  French  people. 
They  know  not  what  they  want.  They  are  never 
united.  Revolution  follows  revolution  in  endless  suc- 
cession. The  best  friends  of  France  have  lost  all  hope- 
fulness in  her  future,  and  are  in  desj^air.  In  a  terrible 
revolution  of  blood  and  misery,  less  than  one  hundred 
years  ago,  the  old  Bourbon  monarchy  was  overthrown. 
They  tried  a  republic  ;  it  proved  an  utter  failure  :  tried 
the  consulate ;  abandoned  it  for  the  empire  :  shouted, 
"  Down  with  the  empire ! "  and  took  back  the  Bour- 
bons ;  drove  them  ignominiously  a  second  time  from  the 
kingdom,  and  reared  the  Orleans  throne.  After  making 
Louis  Phihppe  their  "target-king"  for  about  a  score 
of  years,  they  drove  him  in  shame  and  disgrace  out  of 
the  kingdom,  and  tried  a  repuljlic  again.  After  the  lapse 
of  two  years,  they  repudiated  the  re[)ul)lic,  and  re-estal)- 
lished  the  empire  ;  and  now  tlie  c'in])ire  is  in  ruins,  and 
the  people  of  France  arc  asking,  "  Wiiat  next?  " 


348  HISTORY   OF   PRUSSIA. 

There  is  no  new  form  of  government  which,  human  in- 
geniiit|rcan  devise.  Shall  they  return  to  the  old  Bourbon 
monarchy  ?  Twice  they  have  tried  that,  and  twice  re- 
jected it  furiously.  Shall  they  re-establish  the  repub- 
lic ?  Twice  they  have  abandoned  that  in  disgust.  Shall 
they  attempt  to  rear  again  the  throne  of  the  empbe  ? 
The  first  and  second  empire  have  been  trampled  with 
maledictions  beneath  the  feet  of  the  mob  in  Paris. 
Shall  they  invite  the  House  of  Orleans  back  to  the 
throne  ?  Louis  Philippe  was,  but  a  few  years  ago, 
literally  pelted  out  of  the  kingdom,  barely  escaping 
with  his  life. 

Whatever  excuses  may  be  made  for  any  or  all  of 
these  events,  the  facts  remain  unchanged ;  and  they 
have  created,  universally,  a  profound  sentiment  of  dis- 
couragement in  reference  to  the  future  of  France.  Her 
best  friends  are  in  despair.  They  feel  that  it  is  of  but 
little  consequence  what  government  the  present  Assem- 
bly may  decide  upon ;  for  they  have  no  confidence  that 
the  government  will  last  longer  than  a  few  years. 
There  are  in  France  five  very  decided  and  hostile  par- 
ties, —  Bourbonists,  Orleanists,  Imperiahsts,  ^Moderate 
Republicans,  and  very  emphatically  pronounced  Radi- 
cal Republicans.  Whichever  one  of  these  five  forms  of 
government  may  be  adopted,  there  will  be  four  fierce 
assailants  to  fall  upon  it,  obstructing  its  operations,  and 
endeavoring  by  revolution  to  secure  its  overthrow.  The 
world  has  lost  faith  in  France. 

The  writer  has  ever  been  in  favor  of  the  empire,  be- 
lieving it  to  have  been  the  choice  of  the  majority  of  the 
French  people,  and,  under  the  circumstances,  the  best 
government  for  France.  He  has  thought,  with  nearly 
eight  millions  of  French  voters,  that  monarchical  forms 


PEACE.  319 

would  disarm  the  hostility  of  the  surrounding  monar- 
chies ;  while  a  constitution  under  those  forms,  abolishing 
all  hereditaiy  privilege,  establishing  universal  suffi-age, 
and  recognizing  the  principle  of  equal  rights  for  all  men, 
might  gradually  lead  the  nation  in  the  path  of  liberty, 
without  the  horrors  of  revolution. 

Very  many  of  his  fellow-republicans  in  America  have 
been  so  far  from  agreeing  with  him  in  this  opinion,  that 
they  have  regarded  its  avowal  as  a  crime  demanding  the 
severest  denunciation.  But  the  writer  is  constrained 
still  to  admit,  that  in  his  judgment,  could  the  minority 
of  the  people  of  France  have  acquiesced  in  the  decision 
of  the  majority,  and  accepted  the  empire,  with  its  con- 
stitution purposely  rendered  so  elastic  that  any  reforms 
which  the  people  might  choose  could  be  introduced  by 
the  peaceful  operation  of  the  ])allot-l)ox,  the  fort}^  mil- 
lions of  the  French  people  would  be  in  a  far  happier 
condition  and  with  brighter  prospects  than  now. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  friends  of  human 
progress,  at  the  present  time,  look  rather  to  the  empire 
of  Germany  with  hope  than  to  France.  They  cannot 
regard  with  approval  many  of  the  measures  which  have 
been  adopted  in  the  creation  of  this  empire.  They  in- 
stinctively revolt  from  its  absolutist  political  principles, 
fi-om  its  hereditary  legislators,  and  from  its  openly- 
avowed  hostility  to  popular  reform.  Still  the  empire 
will  probably  prove  a  stable  government.  The  Germans 
are  a  stable  and  reliable  people.  It  will  be  for  the  in- 
terest of  that  strong  government  to  promote  the  pros- 
perity of  the  masses;  and  modern  iulclligcnct',  which 
teaches  that  the  wealth  of  one  nation  is  not  increased  l)y 
the  impoverishment  of  others,  will  lead  the  t'inpire  to 
seek,  by  commercial  activity,  to  promote  the  industry 
and  opulence  of  other  States. 


350  HISTORY   OF   PRUSSIA. 

The  writer  regrets  to  see  that  there  are  some  Ger- 
mans in  this  country  who  are  annoyed  by  the  impartial 
statement  of  the  facts  involved  in  the  creation  of  the 
new  Germanic  Empire.  But  it  is  of  no  avail  to  attempt 
to  conceal  these  facts,  or  to  ignore  them.  This  thing  has 
not  been  done  in  a  corner.  The  eyes  of  the  civilized 
world  has  been  upon  the  movement.  The  successive 
steps  by  which  this  sublime  creation  has  been  accom- 
plished are  known  to  all  attentive  observers ;  and  no  one 
is  ignorant  of  the  fact,  that  neither  Count  Bismarck  nor 
King  William  is  the  friend  of  democratic  progress,  and 
that  this  empire  has  been  established  as  a  check  upon 
that  progress. 

To  attempt  to  conceal  these  facts  would  only  expose 
these  pages  to  contempt.  The^  narrative  here  given  is 
an  impartial  recital  of  facts  known  by  all  intelligent 
men.  If  this  record  be  not  substantially  true,  then  is  it 
impossible  to  obtain  any  truth  of  history.  Never  did 
events  take  place  under  a  broader  blaze  of  day.  The  eyes 
of  the  civilized  world  have  followed  these  movements. 

At  the  present  moment,  such  intense  emotions  and 
passions  are  excited  by  these  tremendous  events,  that  no 
one  who  attempts  to  record  these  scenes,  no  matter  how 
candid,  how  impartial,  can  hope  to  escape  obloquy. 
When  forty  millions  of  Germans  upon  one  side,  and 
forty  millions  of  Frenchmen  on  the  other,  are  arrayed 
against  one  another  in  the  most  deadly  hostility,  with  all 
their  passions  roused  to  the  highest  pitch,  he  would  be- 
tray a  strange  knowledge  of  human  nature  who  should 
hope  that  he  could  give  an  impartial  account  of  the  con- 
flict in  terms  which  would  be  satisfactory  to  either  party. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  writer  has  been  only 
anxious  so  to  state  the  truth  as  to  win  the  approval  of 


PEACE.  351 

all  impartial  minds,  and  to  secure  the  final  verdict  of  the 
antagonists,  whose  passions,  now  so  fearfully  aroused, 
will  ere  long  subside  into  a  calm  more  favorable  for  the 
contemplation  of  truth.  Fortunately  for  the  writer, 
there  are  thousands  of  liis  countrymen,  who  have  watched 
these  events  with  the  most  intelligent  and  intense  inter- 
est, who  will  be  able,  by  their  testimony,  to  substantiate 
the  accuracy  of  this  narrative. 

March  2, 1871.  —  The  great  conflict  is  ended.  France, 
Ijeaten  in  every  battle,  and  with  her  capital  in  the  hands 
of  the  conqueror,  has  been  compelled  to  submit  to  what- 
ever terms  were  proposed,  and  to  drain  to  its  dregs  the 
cup  of  humiliation  presented  to  her  lips.  She  surrenders 
all  of  Alsace,  one-fifth  of  Lorraine,  and  all  the  strong  for- 
tresses which  had  been  reared  in  those  regions.  Thus 
Prussia  now  holds  both  banks  of  the  Rhine  from  Bel- 
gium to  Switzerland,  all  the  fortresses  in  the  Rhine  Val- 
ley, and  commands  all  the  passes  of  the  Vosges  Moun- 
tains. One  million  five  hundred  thousand  Frenchmen, 
in  the  highest  state  of  exasperation,  are  taken  from 
France,  and  transferred  to  Prussia.  Thus  France  lies 
entirely  at  the  mercy  of  Germany,  with  no  possibility  of 
striking  back  any  l)lo\vs  which  may  be  received.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  loss  of  territory,  —  which,  in  a  strategic  point 
of  view,  is  of  inestimable  value,  —  France  is  compelled 
to  pay  the  victor  a  thousand  millions  of  dollars  to  remu- 
nerate him  for  the  expenses  he  has  incurred  in  making 
his  magnificent  conquest.  This  amounts  to  twenty-five 
dollars  for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  Frane(\  In 
addition  to  this,  France  has  been  compelled  to  submit  to 
the  humihation  of  having  the  German  army,  with  uu- 
fui-led  banners  and  jubilant  trumpet-pcals,  traverse  lier 


352  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

avenues  into  the  very  heart  of  Paris,  and  pitch  their 
tents  in  the  Garden  of  the  Tuileries  and  in  the  Elysian 
Fields ;  and,  hardest  of  all,  there  are  but  few  voices  to 
be  heard,  in  England  or  America,  speaking  one  word  of 
sympathy  for  France  in  her  utter  desolation  and  woe. 
"The  New- York  Herald,"  which  perhaps,  as  fully  as 
any  other  paper,  reflects  popular  sentiment,  says,  — 

"  Very  few  who  have  been  students  of  tliis  war  from 
its  commencement  until  now  will  be  sorry  that  "things 
are  as  they  are  to-day."  ^ 

A  correspondent  of  "  The  Herald,"  writing  from  Paris 
under  date  of  the  evening  of  March  1,  1871,  says,  "  The 
dreaded  hour  has  arrived.  The  German  troops,  with  the 
iron  determination  which  has  distinguished  them  during 
the  war,  are  at  this  moment  carrying  out  their  resolu- 
tion to  enter  the  capital  of  France,  conquered  by  them. 
Up  to  the  last  moment,  it  was  hoped  that  the  autocrat 
at  the  head  of  the  German  Empire  would  yield,  and  not 
be  relentless  in  his  purpose,  but  content  himself  with 
the  dismemberment  and  beggary  of  France,  without  add- 
ing an  apparently  unnecessary  and  unprofitable  humilia- 
tion to  the  already  overwhelmed  French." 

The  scenes  of  grief  and  despair  witnessed  on  the  part  of 
the  implusive  French  when  their  triumphant  foes  marched 
exultingly  into  the  city,  with  their  batteries  so  arranged, 
that,  at  the  slightest  exhibition  of  hostilities,  the  whole 
city  could  be  laid  in  ashes,  cannot  be  described. 

Terribly  severe  as  were  these  terms  of  the  Germans, 
the  French  could  not  have  resisted  them  even  had  they 
been  more  unendurable.  France,  bound  hand  and  foot, 
was  at  the  mercy  of  the  conqueror.     The  terms  of  peace 

1  New-York  Herald,  March.2,  1871. 


PEACE.  353 

to  which  M.  Thiers  and  M.  Favrc  had  assented,  in  their 
conference  with  the  Prussian  court  at  Versailles,  was 
ratified  by  the  General  Assembly  at  Bordeaux  by  546 
yeas  to  107  nays.  These  numbers,  which  have  just  been 
flashed  over  the  wires,  may  not  prove  exact ;  but  they 
show  the  general  unanimity  of  the  vote. 

Thus  the  war  terminates.  This,  however,  may  prove 
but  the  beginning  of  the  end.  German  troops  will  hold 
portions  of  the  French  territory  till  the  debt  is  paid. 
There  may  yet  be  many  serious  colUsions.  What  gov- 
ernment will  France  now  establish  ?  It  matters  not 
whether  it  be  Legitimist,  Orl(5anist,  Imperialist,  or  Re- 
publican :  France  is  at  the  mercy  of  Germany.  Should 
France  now  establish  a  republic  in  her  friendlessness 
and  her  poverty,  even  could  she  establish  such  on  the 
best  and  most  orderly  of  bases,  she  would  incur  the 
hostility  of  every  monarchy  in  Europe,  and  the  especial 
hostility  of  that  gigantic  empii-e  of  absolutism  now 
frowning  down  upon  her  from  the  north. 

Eiu'ope  is  bewildered  by  the  suddenness  of  the  change. 
The  great  northern  empires  of  Prussia  and  Russia,  now 
bound  in  closest  alliance  of  governmental  forms  and 
political  principles,  hold  Europe  at  theu'  disposal.  Prus- 
sia needs,  for  her  full  development,  Belgium,  Holland, 
and  Denmark":  she  can  now  take  them  whenever  it  may 
please  her  to  do  so.  Russia  needs  Sweden,  and  Turkey 
in  Europe :  she  can  have  them  both  before  the  snows 
of  another  winter  fall,  if  she  think  it  worth  while  to  be 
in  haste,  and  to  put  her  armies  in  motion. 

The  fall  of  France  is  the  fall  of  England.  She  has  no 
longer  an  ally  upon  the  Continent.  Sir  Robert  Perl,  in 
an  impassioned  speech  in  the  English  House  of  Commons, 
has  recently  given  expression  to  his  alarm.     He  mourns 

23 


354  HISTORY   OF  PRUSSIA. 

the  downfall  of  France,  whose  independence  he  affirms 
to  be  essential  to  the  tranquillity  of  Europe,  —  "a  coun- 
try," he  says,  "  which,  for  the  last  twenty  years  at  least, 
on  twenty  battle-fields,  has,  iri  unison  with  England, 
sacrificed  her  best  blood  and  noblest  sons ;  "  and  he  de- 
clares that  "  the  unification  of  Germany  under  a  military 
despotism  cannot  be  for  the  good  of  Europe." 

There  is  the  prospect  of  very  serious  trouble  in  Europe 
for  years  to  come.  The  republican  element  in  Germany 
will  not  long  remain  quiescent  under  the  sway  of  heredi- 
tary princes.  When  we  reflect  upon  the  results  of  this 
conflict,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  any  good  which 
humanity  has  attained  in  the  slightest  degree  commen- 
surate with  the  misery  which  has  been  inflicted.  The 
human  family  might  live  in  almost  perfect  happiness 
upon  this  beautiful  globe  which  God  has  allotted  us ; 
but  the  folly  of  wickedness  has  converted,  and  is  stiU 
converting,  our  whole  world  into  a  field  of  blood  and  a 
vale  of  tears.  The  alike  discordant  shouts  of  the 
victors,  and  groans  of  the  vanquished,  are  ever  blending. 
Will  the  time  ever  come  when  kindly  sympathies  will 
reign  in  human  hearts  ? 

"  O  brother-man  !  fold  to  thy  heart  thy  brother : 
Where  pity  dwells,  the  peace  of  God  is  there. 
To  worship  rightly  is  to  love  each  other,  — 
Each  smile  a  hymn,  each  kindly  word  a  prayer." 


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The  keel  upon  the  shore. 

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LIFE  OF  NAPOLEON  III., 

EMPEROR    OF    THE    FRENCH. 

m 

Embracing  a  Record  of  nearly  all  the  Important  National  Events  which  have 
occurred  in  Europe  during  the  last  half  of  a  century. 

BT 

JOHN    S.    C.    ABBOTT, 

Aathor  of   "History  of  Napoleon   I,"    "French   Revolution,"   "Civil  War  In 
America,"  "  Lives  of  the  Presidents,"  &c.,  &c. 


"  This  work  well  becomes,  in  its  size  and  mechanical  execution,  the  subjects  of 
which  it  treats.  France  of  all  countries,  the  French  of  all  nations,  and  Louia 
Napoleon  of  all  rulers,  furnish  the  most  interesting  materials  for  a  readable  book. 
Those  who  know  with  what  romance  Mr.  Abbott's  pen  invests  every  subject  of 
which  it  treats  may  well  («pect,in  this  royal  octavo,  interest  as  well  as  information. 
Nor  will  they  be  disappointed.  The  author  has  had  access  to  all  the  facilities  needed 
for  the  full  development  of  his  subject.  From  the  first  Napoleon,  the  annals  of 
France  have  been  full  of  thrilling  interest.  The  present  emperor  has  become  in  six- 
teen years  the  leading  spirit  in  modern  history,  and  is  a  marvel  in  himself.  Mr. 
Abbott  has  been  careful  to  give  documentary  proof  for  his  statements ;  and  those 
that  find  fault  with  his  details  must  blame  history,  and  not  the  historian." — Port- 
land (3fe.)  Christian  Mirror. 


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gubscription. 

For  terms,  address 

B.  B.  RUSSELL,   Publisher, 

55  Cornliill,  Boston,  Mass. 


A  Book  for  every  Household  in  America. 


LIVES    OF   THE    PRESIDENTS 

OP    THE    UNITED    STATES, 
P'rom    W  aslxington   to   the   Present    Time. 

UX.USTRATED,  ANU  COiMPLETE  IN  ONE  VOLUME. 

BT 
JOHN    S.    C.    ABBOTT, 

Author  of  the  "Civil  War  in  America,"  "Life  of  Napoleon,"  "History  of  the 
French  Revolution,"  "  Mother  at  Ilome,"  &c.,  &c. 


"  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  speak  well  of  a  book  written  to  carry  out  a  prncticol 
idea,  and  by  one  of  the  most  practical  writerw  in  America.  There  is  not  a  i)olitieian, 
a  newspaper  editor,  or  intelligent  citizen,  who  will  not  find  this  work  of  va«t  im- 
portance to  him,  saving  much  labor,  and  therefore  time.  It  is  not  only  a  risiimt'  of 
the  leading  events  in  the  characters  of  those  who  have  presided  over  the  Uovern- 
ment,  but  is  accompanied  by  ijhilosophical  reflections,  and  by  what  we  arc  pleaMed 
to  notice,  —  the  frank  objections  of  the  biographer  to  such  errors  as  may  have  been 
committed  by  these  Chief  Magistrates.  It  is  a  wonder  that  the  idea  of  such  a  book 
has  not  before  been  carried  out;  and  we  are  glad  that  it  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
a  gentleman  whose  experience,  discrimination,  and  intelligence  qualify  him  to  give 
Ufl  a  complete  and  standard  work  of  reference."  —  Washington  Chronicle. 


The  work  is  an  octavo  volume  of  .020  pages,  handsomely  illustratecl  by  eight  steel, 
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vassing Agents. 

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55  Cornliill,  I'.daIoii,  Maait. 


THE 


Life  of  George  Peabody: 

containing  a  record  of  those  princely  acts  of  benevolence  whicn 

entitle  him  to  the  gratitude  and  esteem  of  the  friends  of 

education  and  of  the  destitute,  both  in  america, 

the  land  of  his  birth,  and  england, 

the  place  of  his  death. 

By   PHEBE   a.    HANAFORD, 
Member  of  tlie  Essex  Institute,  and  author  of  "  Life  of  Lincoln^''  (fc. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION   BY   DR.  JOSEPH   H.  HANAFORD. 


The  above,  copied  from  the  titlepage  of  the  book,  fully  explains  the  work.  That 
the  record  of  such  a  hfe  will  be  instructive  and  interesting,  no  one  will  deny.  Mrs. 
Hanaford's  ability  to  perform  the  task,  no  one  will  question.  She  was  well 
known  for  some  years  as  the  editor  of  "  The  Ladies'  Repository."  Her  experience 
as  a  writer  and  poetess  is  large;  and,  being  a  member  of  the  Essex  Institute  (an 
association  that  shared  largely  the  muniiicence  of  Mr.  Peabody),  her  facilities 
are  ample. 

I  need  not  enlarge  upon  the  desirableness  of  possessing  such  a  work.  As  Amer- 
ican citizens,  we  are  proud  of  the  name  of  George  Peabody.  And,  to  place  the 
book  within  reach  of  the  millions,  I  have  published  it  in  style  and  price  suited  to 
the  times. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  present  a  long  list  of  testimonials :  a  few  will  indicate  the 
universal  favor  with  which  the  work  is  received :  — 

"  The  subject  is  a  most  interesting  one;  and  the  authoress  has  made  good  use  of 
the  moat  abundant  material  at  hand."  —  Boston  Traveller. 

"  Mrs.  Hanaford  has  had  ample  facilities  for  preparing  this  work ;  and  her  literary 
abilities  are  widely  known.  She  has  succeeded  in  making  a  readable,  accurate,  and 
very  desirable  book."  —  Boston  Post. 

"  It  is  a  book  intended  for  circulation  among  the  masses ;  and  Mrs.  Hanaford  has 
written  it  in  a  very  pleasant  and  attractive  style."  —  Boston  Journal. 

"  Every  young  man  should  have  a  copy,  and  make  his  character  a  model  for  his 
future  life."  —  Syracuse  Standard. 

"Mrs.  Hanaford,  by  her  pleasant  and  welcome  style,  has  made  a  book  peculiarly 
attractive  to  the  masses ;  and  everybody  will  be  gratified  and  benefited  by  reading 
it."  —  Northern  Advocate. 

''  I  am  quite  delighted  with  the  neat  style  of  the  books,  which  came  to  hand  yes- 
terday." —  Mrs.  E.  C.  Smithson,  New  Haven. 

I  am  constantly  receiving  similar  notices  of  the  press,  and  expressions  of  satis- 
faction from  my  agents  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

TERMS  OF  PUBLICATION.—  The  work  contains  308  pages,  12mo;  illus- 
trated by  a  fine  Steel  Portrait  of  Mr.  Peabody,  and  six  other  illustrations,  including 
his  birthplace.    Sold  only  by  subscription. 

1=  I^  I O  E  S- 

Sii1)stantiall7  lound  in  Muslin,  $1.50.    In  Arabesque  Morocco,  $2.00. 

B.  B.  RUSSELL,  Publisher, 

55  Cornhill,  Boston. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 
LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below  or 
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